EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Monday, November 7, 2011; 9:00 AM CT

NET Board Room, 1800 N. 33rd St., Lincoln

Remote: NATS Conference Room, Wayne State College, Wayne

Remote: Alliance High School, 100 W. 14th, Alliance

Remote: UNMC Sorrell Center Room 3029, 42nd & Emile Streets, Omaha

Remote: ESU 10, 76 Plaza Blvd., Kearney

MINUTES

 

VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:

 

Mr. Ken Clipperton, Midland University

Mr. Ron Cone, Educational Service Unit 10, Kearney

Ms. Lois Dietsch, Seward Middle School; Alternate for Mr. Jeff Johnson

Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools

Mr. Stephen Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School

Mr. Leonard Hartman, Alliance Public Schools

Mr. Ed Hoffman, Nebraska State College System

Mr. Thomas (Tip) O’Neill, Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Nebraska; alt. for Mr. Clark Chandler

Dr. Bob Uhing, Educational Service Unit 1, Wakefield

 

LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Stephen Stortz, Alternate for Stephen Hamersky; Ms. SuAnn Witt, Nebraska Department of Education;

 

MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:  Mr. Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University; Mr. John Dunning, Wayne State College; Ms. Yvette Holly, UNMC; Mr. Randy Schmailzl, Metropolitan Community College; Dr. Mike Lucas, York Public Schools; Mr. Jeff Stanley, Conestoga Public Schools; Dr. Marshall Hill, CCPE; Ms. Brenda Decker, State Office of the CIO; Mr. Gary Targoff, NET.  

 

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

 

Co-Chair, Dr. Terry Haack, called the meeting to order at 9:01 am.  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 Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar on October 31, 2011. The agenda was posted to the NITC website on October 31, 2011. A copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Laws was on the southeast wall of the NET Board Room and at each of the remote locations.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE NOVEMBER 7, 2011 MEETING

 

Mr. O’Neill moved to approve the November 7, 2011 agenda as presented. Mr. Hoffman seconded. Roll call vote: O’Neill-Yes, Clipperton-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-8, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE MAY 10, 2011 MEETING

 

Mr. Clipperton moved to approve the  May 10, 2011 minutes as presented. Mr. Hamersky seconded.  Roll call vote: O’Neill-Yes, Clipperton-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-8, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

Co-Chair Haack called for introductions.  Dave Hahn, Nebraska Information Network, introduced himself to the Council  as Roger Hahn’s replacement.

 

There was no public comment.

 

MEMBERSHIP, 2011-2013

 

Dr. Haack stated that members have the biographies of two individuals that will be voted on today. Mr. Tom Rolfes, Office of the CIO/NITC, introduced Mr. Lyle Neal from Southeast Community College. He will be replacing Mike Chipps on the Council. Mr. Neal is administrator at Milford Campus and VP for Technology.  Not present today is Ms. Mary P. Niemiec, from the University of Nebraska.  She replaces Arnold Bateman who retired from that position with the University of Nebraska Online World Wide and also the University’s 2nd representative to the Council. 

 

Mr. O’Neill moved to accept the nominations of Lyle Neal and Mary Niemiec to the Education Council and forward to the NITC. Ms. Dietsch seconded.   Roll call vote: O’Neill-Yes, Clipperton-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-8, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

ELECTION OF A HIGHER EDUCATION CO-CHAIR

 

Dr. Haack stated that the higher education members expressed through e-mail discussion that it might be best to conduct the election at the next meeting due to insufficient higher education representation at this meeting. Dr. Haack asked for discussion. Mr. O’Neill asked who the current higher ed representatives were. Mr. Rolfes read the list as follows: Mr. Clark Chandler, representing Independent Universities, with Mr. Thomas O’Neill, alternate; Mr. Ken Clipperton, representing Independent Universities, with Mr. Chuck Lenosky, alternate; Mr. John Dunning, representing State Colleges, with no alternate announced; Mr. Ed Hoffman, representing State Colleges, with Mr. Stan Carpenter, alternate; Ms. Yvette Holly representing Public Universities, with Dr. Dan Moser, alternate. Mr. Lyle Neal, representing Community Colleges, with Dr. Jack Huck, alternate; Ms. Mary Niemiec, representing Public Universities, with Mr. Gary Aerts, alternate; Mr. Randy Schmailzl, representing Community Colleges, with Mr. Dennis Baack, alternate. It would be the first eight members of the voting members that would be eligible to be co-chair.

 

The Council agreed to defer the election of the higher education co-chair until the next meeting.

 

Mr. Ron Cone joined the meeting via the Kearney remote site.

 

CONSIDER AMENDING THE EDUCATION COUNCIL CHARTER

 

Dr. Haack explained that the proposed changes to the Charter included mostly grammatical changes, URLs and updated statutes with the exception of item 6.6, Conflict of Interest. Mr. Rolfes explained that this item has been brought to the Education Council, just like it has all the advisory groups of the NITC. The GIS Council recently reviewed an issue with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission and the Commission recommended that each NITC advisory group insert this paragraph into the charter. There is a possibility of a personal conflict of interest because of an investment or side-line business. Dr. Haack pointed out that in Section 4 and 7.7 there are some website changes. Number 4.2.11 actually pertains to the Council’s responsibility of helping administer Network Nebraska and assisting the Office of the CIO. Mr. Rolfes stated this charter goes back over 10 years, so these changes present an opportunity to review the Charter language. As some Council members questioned the date of November 15 in Section 4.2.8, Mr. Rolfes explained that there is a whole budget sequence that occurs during every biennial budget. By September 15 all agency technology plans are due as well as all IT project requests as part of the budget plan. Council members and the Technical Panel are asked to review these projects and the NITC actually reviews and prioritizes projects before being forwarded to the Governor and the Legislature. There was no further discussion.

 

Mr. Clipperton moved to approve the Education Council Charter as amended. Dr. Uhing seconded.   Roll call vote: O’Neill-Yes, Clipperton-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, Ron Cone-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-9, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN NETWORK NEBRASKA UPDATE AND MEMBERSHIP BY SECTOR

Mr. Tom Rolfes reporting.

 

Item A. Mr. Rolfes introduced a new document called “Member Contributions by Sector”. It is a summary sheet explaining the 2011 – 2012 revenue from all education subsectors. Under Interregional Transport Fee for K-12 it shows only $86,703, but there’s another $191,000 revenue as reimbursement from the Federal E-rate program. So the actual K-12 revenue under interregional transport of the backbone is approximately $277,000. The question was asked when we can expect the federal funding to come in for 2010-11. Mr. Rolfes said we are still waiting on E-rate funding for the 2010-2011 year after having undergone 10 Program Integrity Assurance reviews.  Reimbursement usually arrives in November but this year it will be closer to December. The E-rate application for 2011-2012 was submitted back in March 2011 and it is under initial review. The 2012-2013 application will be filed in March and is just beginning to take shape with procurement.  Mr. Rolfes also explained that the Grand Island Public Library is connected to Network Nebraska. They are paying for their connectivity into College Park but by recommendations from the advisory group they are not paying fees for a two-year time period in exchange for content sharing via videoconferencing. The question was asked if there is any carryover money or reserve. Mr. Rolfes said that there is no reserve, but there is sometimes a carryover from one year to the next. The project is very transparent in that any member at any time can get financial statements, and the Office of the CIO is required to produce and share an annual financial report with the Legislature and every participating entity.

 

Item B. The new Network Nebraska map as of October, 2011. It shows the 246 entities and their approximate geographic locations. The label year when most groups of entities came onto the Network was retained on the map, but the colored triangles were all converted to purple. The 2011-12 backbone is limited to those three segments that interconnect Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha, but in the current RFP that loop extends out to Scottsbluff, Chadron, back to Wayne and then to Omaha. That is part of the proposed backbone upgrade.

 

Item D is Procurement Overview. Timeline for the RFP: November 4 was a vendor pre-proposal conference held at Varner Hall and by conference call. November 7 is the last day for bidders to submit questions. By next Monday, November 14, all answers will be posted to the State Purchasing website and then bids are opened on December 9.  It is a very aggressive timeline in order to meet the E-rate filing deadline which is early to mid-March.

 

Item C.  MCU (Multipoint Control Unit) Bridging Services. The Network Nebraska Advisory Group recommended buying 10 simultaneous port connections on the OCIO bridge to be used by any of the 246 entities of Network Nebraska.

 

Mr. O’Neill left the meeting.

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS

 

Dr. Haack said that each Council member should be assigned to at least one of the task groups.

 

Emerging Technologies Task Group—Mr. Steve Hamersky. The group has had a couple virtual meetings by e-mail that included the sharing of documents. They examined the New Horizons Report for 2011.  There were a number of emerging technologies identified in that report that they want to consider. The group picked out a few areas that they may want to focus on: Cloud computing and its use throughout the state, virtual school and how through the virtual school they may need to consider statewide content repository and also statewide learning management. Open content is wrapped into that.  Some movement in mobile devices is being seen. Other areas are critical thinking and teacher/student usage of mobile devices. The group plans to prioritize some of the ideas and consider generating new action items. The Digital Education initiative seems to be the most likely home for these emerging areas so they will be looking at that in the future. The group has not gone as far as identifying specific action items in writing.  That will probably be their goal for the next meeting.

 

Services Task Group—Mr. Ron Cone.  Mr. Cone stated that the Services Task Group has not met.  He asked to draw attention to Action Item N3a, aggregating internet access service. That is being done in section 3 of the RFP that is on the street right now. Mr. Ken Clipperton added that as a services group, even though they are not listed in item D3, they really do have an interest there. Items N4a and N1b deal with community aggregation of bandwidth and he is personally fostering that conversation in Fremont. It will probably be a future agenda item for discussion.

 

Governance Task Group—Dr. Uhing and Dr. Haack. The group has not met in the past 6-8 months. At the last meeting they set priorities for further work. Mike Chipps had taken the lead for the group and since he has left they have not met, or elected a chair. Mr. Rolfes stated that Randy Schmailzl had agreed to sign on when Mike Chipps left. The Network Nebraska Advisory group will meet in late November or early December. Their agenda will be available on line.

 

Marketing Task Group—Ms. SuAnn Witt. The group has not met recently. They are going to continue the Network Nebraska Marketing Survey and change the survey questions to be more service-oriented. The other part of the task group is to have a business plan and a marketing plan. The surveys are useful and have resulted in some action and improvements to Network Nebraska.

 

NITC ACTION ITEMS

 

A.    Task Group Membership

Dr. Haack asked if there is anyone that would like to change groups. There were none. Mr. Lyle Neal volunteered for the Network Nebraska Service Task Group.

B.      Review action item progress –

Dr. Haack presented the 2010-2011 document and the new 2012-2014 document that will go to the NITC. The new document keeps some of the action items, adds some new action items, discontinues some, and a few action items are marked as completed.  Action Items can be added throughout the year, so they are somewhat fluid. These have to be posted tomorrow on the NITC agenda. There was discussion about which items fit with which task groups.

 

Mr. Clipperton asked questions regarding aggregation of the community to the state network. Dr. Haack suggested, within N1b, to add Brenda Decker, CIO to the participating entities.  Mr. Clipperton made the request to change the wording in N2a from “that will mitigate data transport and synchronous video problems” to “that insure data transport and synchronous video reliability.”

 

Mr. Rolfes explained that the Network Nebraska Advisory Group wanted to introduce N4e as an action item. 

Ms. Witt verified that the Market Group got added to being monitor of the Nebraska.gov Education portal. Mr. Rolfes answered that action item appears under the eGovernment Initiative. Mr. Rolfes pointed out that action item D3 gets to the matter of the Virtual Desktop.

 

Ms. Witt asked if IPv6 deployment was a current action item. Mr. Rolfes answered that it was not. It would need its own action item if it were inserted. It would become N4f.

 

Mr. Ron Cone requested that differentiation be made between items D1b and D1c, content management systems by K-12 schools and a statewide digital content repository. Mr. Rolfes answered that D1b is more on the policy front, standards that are needed and D1c is the actual operational effort. Ms. Witt suggested that a glossary be added for clarification purposes.

 

Dr. Haack stated that he would entertain a motion for approval of the action items with the inclusion of modifications discussed and agreed to by the Council.  

 

Mr. Hoffman moved to forward the Network Nebraska, Digital Education and eGovernment action items to the NITC with the modifications. Mr. Clipperton seconded. Roll call vote: Clipperton-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Dietsch-Yes, Lyle Neal-Yes, Cone-Yes, and Uhing-Yes,  Results:  Yes-9, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Dr. Haack welcomed the new members to the Council.

 

Discussion of possible recurring monthly or bi-monthly meetings. Mr. Rolfes said that in the past that the Education Council had met on the third Friday of every, or every other, month. More recently, the Council had agreed to meet bimonthly and schedule the meetings around the community college CEO meetings in Lincoln. Members have asked him if the Council could return to a recurring date. The question was put before the membership whether Thursday or Friday works better and morning or afternoon. Dr. Haack suggested that in January the Council will meet via videoconferencing and have multiple sites, due to winter weather. The January meeting was set for Thursday, January 19th at 1:00 pm CT.

Mr. Rolfes will draw up a draft calendar of meetings for the members to consider at that meeting.

 

AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING

 

Dr. Haack asked that Task Group reports, Task Group membership, Network Nebraska Marketing Report draft, RFP update, and possible Legislative updates be part of the January agenda. Mr. Cone offered to present on objectives for the next year that his ESU 10 have been working on. Ron’s presentation will be put on the agenda.

 

The next meeting host location will probably be at NET or the Executive Building and as many remote sites as are requested.

 

Mr. Neal moved to adjourn. Ms. Dietsch seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried by voice vote.

 

Minutes were recorded by Ms. Jeanine Yost and reviewed by Tom Rolfes, Education I.T. Manager, Nebraska Information Technology Commission.