Thursday,
August 16, 2012; 1:00 p.m. CT
State Capitol
Room 1126 (south entrance)
15th & H Streets, Lincoln, Nebraska
VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:
Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public
Schools
Mr. Stephen Hamersky, Daniel
J. Gross Catholic High School
Mr. Ed Hoffman, Nebraska State
College System
Ms. Lois Dietsch,
Alt. for Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools
Mr. 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
Dr. Bob Uhing, Educational Service
Unit 1, Wakefield
LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT: Ms. SuAnn Witt, Nebraska Department of Education; Kathleen
Fimple, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education; Mr. William
Scheideler, Alt. for Ms. Brenda Decker, State Office of the CIO; and Mr. Gary
Targoff, NET;
MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT: Mr. Clark Chandler,
Nebraska Wesleyan University; Mr. Ken
Clipperton, Midland University; Mr. John Dunning, Wayne State College;
Mr. Leonard Hartman, Alliance Public Schools; Ms. Yvette Holly, UNL-Medical
Center; Dr. Mike Lucas, York Public Schools
CALL
TO ORDER, ELECTRONIC POSTING, LOCATION OF OPEN MEETING LAW DOCUMENTS, ROLL
CALL, INTRODUCTIONS
Co-Chair, Dr. Haack, called the
meeting to order at 1:05 pm. There were
8 members present at the time of roll call.
A quorum existed to conduct official business. The meeting notice was
posted to the NITC and the Nebraska
Public Meeting Calendar web sites on
August 7, 2012. The meeting agenda was
posted to the NITC Web site August 7, 2012 with an update posted on August 13,
2012.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR
THE AUGUST 16, 2012 MEETING
Dr.
Uhing moved to approve the August 16, 2012 agenda as presented. Mr. Hamersky
seconded. Roll call vote: Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, Neal-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes,
Stanley-Yes, and Uhing-Yes. Results:
Yes-8, No-0, Abstained-0. Motion carried.
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
FROM THE JANUARY 19, 2012 MEETING
Mr.
Neal moved to approve the November 7, 2011 minutes as presented. Mr. Schmailzl seconded. Roll
call vote: Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes,
Neal-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes, Stanley-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.
Results: Yes-8, No-0,
Abstained-0. Motion carried.
PUBLIC
COMMENT
There was no public comment.
PRESENTATION: OVERVIEW OF THE STATE BIENNIAL BUDGET
PROCESS AND I.T. PROJECT REVIEW AND PRIORITIZATION
William Scheideler, Administrative Services
Budget Office, provided the presentation. Kathy Tenopir and Sandy Sostad from
the Legislative Council were also present to answer questions. Mr. Scheideler
proceeded to review the “Budget Process” document which included timelines for
budget requests.
Resource documents:
Description of the Budget Process
Current General Fund Status
2012 Biennial Budget Report
2013-2015 Budget Preparation Instructions
Gary Needham arrived to the meeting.
Competition for funding new I.T.
projects this biennium will be very competitive due to projected revenue versus
expenses. In order for an Appropriations bill to take effect, an emergency
clause needs to be attached.
NITC Review Timeline. By statute, the NITC must review all I.T. Budget Requests
and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature. The proposals are reviewed by Technical
Reviewers for all agency I.T. requests.
A technical score will be given to each project. The scores are tallied and then the I.T.
projects are reviewed by the Councils for prioritization - State Government
Council, Education Council, eHealth Council, and on
occasion, the Community Council. The
NITC will review the council’s recommendations and submit a prioritized, tiered
list of I.T. projects recommendation. The last time the Education Council went
through this there were two requests to replace a student information system –
one from the University of Nebraska and one from the State College System. It was the Council’s recommendation for the
projects to collaborate and merge two projects into one project, if it was
found to be feasible and cost-effective.
The recommendation was accepted by the NITC and the Governor. The October Education Council meeting will
need to be a face-to-face and meeting and will most likely be in Lincoln. It is uncertain at this point as to how many
projects will need to be reviewed.
The IT Project Review Timeline
is listed below:
9/15/2012: I.T.
Project Proposals due
9/17/2012: Projects
posted on website
9/18/2012: Initial
assignment of reviewers by staff and notice sent to Technical Panel members
9/20/2012: Reviewers
receive projects and scoring sheets by email
10/1/2012: Completed
scoring sheets due from reviewers
10/2/2012: Distribute
summary sheets, with reviewer scores and comments, to submitting agencies for
comment/response
10/5/2012: Agency
response due (optional)
10/9/2012: Technical Panel meeting –
Recommendation and prioritization of IT projects
10/11/2012: State Government Council meeting
- Recommendation and prioritization of IT projects
10/17/2012: Education Council meeting -
Recommendation and prioritization of IT projects
10/29-11/14: NITC meeting – Review and Final Prioritization
of I.T. Project for Recommendation to the Governor and Legislature
11/15/2012: Report Submitted to Governor and Legislature
PRESENTATION: ESUCC INITIATIVES
Matt Blomstedt stated that the Educational
Service Unit Coordinating Council was established four years ago and is
responsible to promote and enhance distance education opportunities as well as
to establish a learning management system.
There is a lot of energy from all entities in the state to do more for
education. There are approximately 70-80
Nebraska schools that would not be accredited if it were not for distance
education. Mr. Blomstedt proceeded with
the presentation and asked members to ask questions at any time.
Mary Niemiec
arrived to the meeting.
ESUCC Strategic Priority Areas:
·
ESUCC
Processes
·
Accountability
and Communication
·
Partnerships
with Stakeholders
·
Technology
Infrastructure and Integration
ESUCC’s Focus:
·
Partnerships
·
Professional
Development
·
Efficient
and Effective statewide services.
o
Prior
to ESUCC, all projects were independent. The focus on
effective collaboration, processes, and strategic management have led to
major initiatives in several areas including Professional Development, Co-op
Purchasing, & BlendEd.
Since most schools already have a
learning management software tool, the timeline to accomplish learning
management is not as big a priority. The September ESUCC meeting will be discussing
content management. It was approximately
ten years ago that the Education Council first envisioned digital education. It would be wonderful to have this accomplished
within the next year.
Many of the ESUCC’s goals coincide
with the NITC’s Statewide Technology Plan’s action items. Mr. Blomstedt invited the Education Council
to assist ESUCC by developing a user case for digital education, to assist with
the strategic steps and vision of the project.
NETWORK
NEBRASKA UPDATE
Mr. Rolfes reported that the project
is in Phase 6 with many of the project contracts expiring for backbone,
routers, and internet. It was a major
undertaking to develop the RFP but it has proven to be a cost-savings for
Network Nebraska partners. He reviewed
the documents. Some of the highlights
included:
Summer 2012 Update. There are 8 new participants (5 public
schools, 1 private school and 2 tribal colleges) for a total of 254 entities
for 2012-13.
Participation Fee FINALIZED for 2012-2013:
K-12 & Higher Education Entities: $ 203.48/month/entity ($
2,441.76/year/entity)
Interregional Transport Fee FINALIZED for 2012-13:
K-12 Entities: $
18.67/month/entity ($ 224.04/year/entity)
Higher Education Entities: $
61.28/month/entity ($ 735.36/year/entity)
Internet Access Cost FINALIZED for 2012-2013:
K-12/library entities: $ .7905/Mbps/month
Higher
Education Entities: $ 2.55/Mbps/month
Statewide Backbone 2012-13. The diagram indicated the backbone
connections via the service providers.
Scottsbluff now routes to the Omaha 1623 Farnam
building providing a faster connection.
Participation Report. Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-5,100 (excerpt) Network Nebraska;
development and maintenance; access; Chief Information Officer; duties;
The Chief Information Officer shall provide access* to each school
district, each educational service unit, each community college, each state
college, and the University of Nebraska at the earliest feasible date and no
later than July 1, 2012. Access may be provided through educational service
units or other aggregation points. Participation in Network Nebraska shall not
be required for any educational entity.
*Note “Access” was defined by the Chief Information Officer as the
ability to connect via Ethernet to one of the Network Nebraska—Education core
aggregation points.
Summary
of Network Nebraska—Education PUBLIC K-20 Participants, as of 7/1/2012:
219 of 252 public school districts (87%)
15 of 17 Educational Service Units (88%)
8 of 8 community colleges (100%)
3 of 3 state colleges (100%)
1 of 1 University of Nebraska (100%)
Summary
of Network Nebraska—Education NON-PUBLIC K-20 Participants, as of 7/1/2012:
4 of 213 private, denominational or
parochial schools (2%)
6 of 14 nonprofit private postsecondary educational
institutions (43%)
With the
additional courses, faster speed, reduced rates and the deadline of available
incentive monies soon approaching, it is anticipated that Network Nebraska will
have more partners to start off the 2013-14 year.
If members were interested in any of
the Participation Report appendices, they were asked to contact Mr. Rolfes.
Network Nebraska Advisory Group
Report.
This group was established by the Education Council. It consists of 16 individuals from the K12
and higher education sectors who are Network Nebraska participants. John Stritt,
ESU 10, and Deb Schroeder, University of Nebraska-Kearney are the
co-chairs. The advisory group works with
the CIO to approve rates and address participant needs and issues. At their last meeting, discussions focused on
budget and the Participation Fee.
TASK
GROUP REPORTS
Emerging Technologies Task Group,
Steve Hamersky.
The Task Group has held online discussions regarding the D2 and D4
Action items which would support ESUCC initiatives and provide assistance.
Other items or issues for discussion included cloud computing, the integration
of mobile devices in the schools and how to deal with distractions. The Task Group
agreed to form a focus group to address mobile devices and make a
recommendation to the Education Council.
Digital text books and the use of mobile devices would be a net cost-savings
to the state.
Services Task Group. Mr. Rolfes reported that the Task Group will
need to replace the co-chairs due to resignations. The group has not met since
January.
Governance Task Group, Randy Schmailzl. The group
has not met since January. Mr. O’Neill
is no longer on the group and will need to have a replacement.
Marketing Task Group, SuAnn Witt and
Ed Hoffman. The group has met once since
January. The Network Nebraska Marketing
Report is ready for final review by the task group. Arnold Bateman, former member, is missed due
to his contribution of data analysis portion of the report. Since it has filled its original purpose, the
Council will need to discuss the future direction of the survey. It could be used for task groups to use to
develop action items, get participant feedback regarding issues such as mobile
devices, digital textbooks, etc. This
will be an agenda item for the next meeting.
NITC
ACTION ITEMS
2012-2014 NITC Action Items (Network Nebraska, Digital
Education, and eGov action items). Task Groups will
meet for discussion and recommendations.
D2 is part of the Emerging Technologies Task Group as well as the
Governance Task Group. They may consider involving Matt Blomstedt in their
discussions.
OTHER/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Survey Results: Survey Monkey was utilized to tally members’
regular recurring meeting preferences.
Approximately 21 responses were received. Results indicated that the 3rd Wednesday of
the month in the morning was first choice with the third Thursday in the morning
coming in second.
2012-13 Meeting Schedule
will be as follows with the possibility of the August meeting being moved due
to the start of a new school year.
Date
& Time Location(s):
Thu, Aug 16, 2012,
1pm-3:30pm CT, Location-Lincoln, State Capitol Room 1126 (No IVC)
Wed, Oct 17, 2012,
9am-12pm, CT, Location-Lincoln (No IVC)
Wed, Dec 19, 2012,
9am-12pm, CT, Location-Multiple video conference sites
Wed, Feb 20, 2013,
9am-12pm, CT, Location-Multiple video conference sites
Wed, Apr 17, 2013,
9am-12pm, CT, Location-TBD (No IVC)
Wed, Jun 19, 2013,
9am-12pm, CT, Location-TBD (No IVC)
Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 9am-12pm, CT, Location-Multiple video
conference sites
AGENDA
ITEMS FOR THE 10/17/2012 MEETING
At the present time, the following
items will be on the October agenda:
·
NN Marketing Reports
·
I.T. Budget Requests
·
Other – Members were asked to email
Mr. Rolfes with any other topics.
CONSIDER
LOCATION FOR THE 10/17/2012 MEETING
Ms. Niemiec
will host the meeting in October at a location in Lincoln.
ADJOURNMENT
Ms.
Niemiec moved to adjourn. Dr. Uhing seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed.
Dr. Haack
thanked Matt Blomstedt
and William Scheideler for their presentations at today’s meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 3: 20
p.m.
Meeting minutes were taken by Lori
Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Tom Rolfes of the Office of the CIO/NITC.