Education Council Meeting Minutes

EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Wednesday, April 17, 2013; 1:30 p.m. CT

NET Board Room, 1800 N. 33rd Street, Lincoln, Nebraska

MINUTES

VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:

Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools, Co-Chair

Mr. Ed Hoffman, Nebraska State College System, Co-Chair

Mike Carpenter, Doane College

Mr. John Dunning, Wayne State College

Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools

Mr. Greg Maschman, Alt. for Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University

Mr. Steven Stortz, Alt. for Stephen Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School

Dr. Lyle Neal, Southeast Community College

Mr. Gary Needham, ESU 9

Ms. Mary Niemiec, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Mr. Randy Schmailzl, Metropolitan Community College

Mr. Jeff Stanley, Conestoga Public Schools;

Mr. John Stritt, Alt. for Dr. Bob Uhing, Educational Service Unit 1

LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT

Mr. Brent Gaswick, Nebraska Department of Education; Dr. Kathleen Fimple, Alt. for Dr. Marshall Hill, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education and Mr. Gary Targoff, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications

MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT: Mr. Leonard Hartman, Alliance Public Schools; Ms. Yvette Holly, UNL-Medical Center; Dr. Mike Lucas, York Public Schools; Ms. Brenda Decker, Office of the CIO

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

Co-Chair, Ed Hoffman, called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar web sites on January 25, 2013. The agenda was posted to the NITC Web site February 18, 2013. The Open Meeting Law was posted on the east wall. Roll call was taken. There were 13 voting members present. A quorum existed to conduct official business. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar web sites on March 20, 2013. The meeting agenda was posted to the NITC Web site April 15, 2013.

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE APRIL 17, 2013 MEETING

Mr. Neal moved to approve the April 17, 2013 meeting agenda as presented. Mr. Stortz seconded. Roll call vote: Carpenter-Yes, Maschman-Yes, Dunning-Yes, Haack-Yes, Stortz-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Neal-Yes, Needham-Yes, Niemiec-Not Present, Schmailzl-Yes, Stanley-Yes, and Stritt-Yes. Results: Yes-12, No-0, Abstained-0. Motion carried.

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE FEBRUARY 20, 2013 MEETING

Mr. Dunning moved to approve the February 20, 2013 meeting minutes as presented. Mr. Maschman seconded. Roll call vote: Stritt-Yes, Stanley-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes, Niemiec-Not Present, Needham-Yes, Neal-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Stortz-Yes, Haack-Yes, Dunning-Yes, Maschman-Yes, and Carpenter-Yes. Results: Yes-12, No-0, Abstained-0. Motion carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

Ms. Niemiec arrived to the meeting.

DISCUSSION WITH THE LT. GOVERNOR

Lieutenant Governor Lavon Heidemann provided a brief autobiography of his personal life and political experience which included involvement with LB 1208. Before opening the floor for discussion, he stated that he was open to ideas that will improve Nebraska. Topics of discussion included Network Nebraska services and continued funding and other potential services if more funding were available such as a statewide repository, staffing, and statewide applications; further collaboration by Nebraska’s K-16 educational institutions; and the potential to bring the Telehealth Network and Network Nebraska on the same system.

NETWORK NEBRASKA UPDATE

2013-14 Participation. July 1^st is the anniversary date of Network Nebraska participation. The project will be adding seven more entities. The backbone will be going from 1.7 Gbps to 2 Gbps, the contractual limit. Discussions are occurring regarding creative methods to get higher connections to schools.

2013-14 Internet Access (projected). K12 capacity increased from 4.9 Gbps to 8 Gbps. Higher Education institutions will be buying a separate portion of Internet from the state’s contracted vendor for an overall 118% capacity increase. There is a constant need to increase bandwidth. More bandwidth will be needed for the upcoming Nebraska Department of Education’s Longitudinal Data Study Dashboard which will be using the network. In addition to the standardized testing, Network Nebraska’s increased usage over the next 24-36 months should prove to be impressive. Schools have derived a Wide Area Network circuit savings of approximately 39% over where they were in 2007. Nebraska has enhanced distance learning statewide and greater collaboration among K-16 entities than most other states. Due to this collaboration, there are more centers of excellence that are promoting economic development and greater learning opportunities for Nebraska students. There has been no funding from the state for Network Nebraska but rather the project has been used to aggregate demand and broker services for higher quality and lower costs.