Harvard School Board had its first meeting of 2025 on Jan. 13, re-electing officers, giving reports, and discussing staff.
Janet Hachtel, Kenny Reutzel, and Jody Novak were reappointed as the school board president, vice president, and secretary, respectively.
During his report, HPS Superintendent Michael Derr explained how the conflict of interest on the board member’s part only affects their vote if it involves an individual in their household.
He gave the example of a board member whose wife is a teacher at HPS—if the vote involves only her, he would need to abstain his vote. However, if the vote involved all teachers, then it would not be a conflict of interest and he would be able to cast a vote.
For the yearly designations of the bank, newspaper, and law firm, the board unanimously voted to keep Perry Law Firm, Cornerstone Bank, and Clay County News.
Derr also talked about memorials, saying how the policies suggest following whatever the crisis team’s recommendations are.
However, Derr noted how when there’s a student death they don’t want to overemphasize a memorial for the student as it could lead to glorifying death to others.
He gave the example of if a student commits suicide and they have a large memorial for the student, it could signify to another student in the same situation how much attention the student who passed is getting.
“It could promote bad things,” Derr said.
He added they will look at what other schools are doing in terms of memorials, but typically they would put a recognition of the student in the graduation program and have a vase of flowers on stage signifying them.
The Nebraska Legislature recently passed a reclassification of school classes, which moves Harvard to a Class 2 District— this is based on the number of students in a school district.
The new classification also allows smaller schools the option to authorize a specific school security person to carry firearms on school grounds; however, Derr said there is a conflict with the policy number so he is not ready to move forward with more information on this until the conflict is resolved.
On the staffing side of things, the Business teacher position, currently taught by Tory Gilson, has been offered, and the special education position has been advertised.
The bookkeeper position, currently held by Stephanie Williamson, was offered and accepted by Story Schwenk.
