The Southwest Nebraska Distance Education Network members met on November 3, 2009, at  Mid-Plains Community College, North Campus, in North Platte. 

The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. by Director Shirley Schall.

Roll call was taken with the following present:   Arapahoe, Arnold, Callaway, Cambridge, Dundy County-Stratton,  ESU 16, Eustis-Farnam, Hershey, Maxwell, Maywood, McCook, Medicine Valley, Mid-Plains Comm. College, Mullen, North Platte, Ogallala, Perkins Co., Southwest,  Stapleton, Sutherland, Thedford, Wallace. 

Absent:   Arthur County, Brady,  Chase County, ESU 15, Hayes Center, Hitchcock County, Hyannis, McPherson County,  Paxton,  Southern Valley, and Wauneta-Palisade.

Also present were Shirley Schall, Distance Education Director, and Barb Hidy, Distance Education Assistant.  Guests:  Chad DeWester, Roger Adkins and Melissa Engel, ESU 16; Gordon Roethemeyer, DEC Director; Shane Gerhartz, ESU 15; Ron Cone, ESU 10; Craig Peterson, ESU 11; Tom Rolfes, Office of the Chief Information Officer and Nebraska Information Technology Commission; Brian Tegtmeier, North Platte Schools; Scott Jones, Elwood.

Legal Notice:  Notice of this meeting was given in advance by publication in accordance with Network approved method for giving notice of meetings.  Availability of the agenda was communicated in the publicized notice.  All proceedings of the meeting, except as may be hereinafter noted, were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Open Meetings Act - The chairperson announced and informed the public that a current copy of the Open Meetings Act was available.

Additions and Approval of the agenda:  Marge asked to address an item under New Business, Item G-Other; Hershey asked to discuss routers which will be addressed under discussion of the RUS grant  currently on the agenda.  A motion was made by Mullen and seconded by Stapleton to approve the modified agenda with additions.  The motion carried unanimously on a voice vote.

Approval of Minutes - The minutes from the November 4, 2008 meeting were distributed to those present as well as being posted on the Distance Learning web site.  A motion was made by Southwest and seconded by Cambridge to accept the minutes as presented.  The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Financial Report - Marge Beatty provided a hand-out of expenses and receipts and answered questions regarding the cash reserve and budget.  It was noted that the DL contract fees for each district pay for the Network Nebraska membership for each location, administrative costs (salaries, office rental, etc.), and part of the video line charges.  E-rate reimbursements also contribute to payment of video line charges.

Visitor Recognition:  Guests introduced themselves and provided their agency name as listed above in roll call.

ACTION ITEMS

2010-11 Proposed DL Contracts - Marge Beatty explained factors being considered in next year’s budget that may affect district fees. A question was asked about the depreciation fund and what equipment may need to be replaced.  Shirley stated that the routers needed to be updated and document cameras and bi-amps were starting to have problems after about 13 years of use.  She noted the possibility of purchasing new routers through a new RUS grant. She also stated that she planned to submit a change request on the grant we received a year ago in order to purchase polycom carts for the schools that were not included in the DEC grant.  During this discussion, she stated that the depreciation funds could be used as in-kind or matching funds for a new RUS grant improving the potential for success.

A motion was made by Stapleton and seconded by Thedford to continue with the $3,000 per site contribution to the depreciation fund for the 2010-11 school year.  Discussion was held with Southwest noting the previous year’s motion from the November, 2008 minutes, stating “each school district will contribute $3,000 per DL room annually, beginning in the 2009-10 school year, to a designated DL equipment depreciation account.“  Since the 2008 motion does not put  a time restriction on the contribution, it was the consensus that last year’s motion stands and will continue until changed by a vote of the members.  Therefore, a vote is not needed to renew the contribution of $3,000 annually to the depreciation fund at this time.

Stapleton withdrew the motion.

Renewal of Network Nebraska Membership - A motion was made by  ESU 16 and seconded by Arnold to renew membership in Network Nebraska for the 2010-11 school year.  The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Tom Rolfes provided a diagram of links on Network Nebraska and reported on 2009-10 costs for the network.  He also provided a handout showing responses from K-12 non-network schools to the Office of the CIO invitation to participate in Network Nebraska in the next phase.  In addition, the handout listed possible new members from the public and non-public post-secondary educational institutions, including colleges, libraries, science centers and museums.  It was noted that membership numbers directly affect the costs of participation with more members reducing the costs.  Because of growth of the network, there has been a 25% increase in costs but more entities to pay those costs. Costs are also dependent on the amount of bandwidth required. Currently 231 entities share the cost of Network Nebraska.  Based on LOA responses, no sizable growth in membership is expected for next year, but bandwidth demand is expected to increase.  This means the member costs could go up slightly from this year’s costs ($192.47 participation fee, plus $34.48 Interregional transport fee - per entity, per month). 

Mr. Rolfes explained the Internet2 Commodity Internet Peering service available to all Network Nebraska participants through Internet2.  This service provides cheaper, faster traffic over the internet.

Renewal of Domain Name - A motion was made by Ogallala and seconded by Callaway to renew the domain name for Southwest Nebraska Distance Education Network.  The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

RUS Grant 2010 - Shirley discussed items that might be purchased through a new RUS Grant.  These items might include routers, polycom carts, document cameras and other pieces of replacement equipment. 

A motion was made by Hershey and seconded by Medicine Valley to write another RUS Grant in 2010.  The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

Approval of SNDEN Technology Plan - Shirley explained the components of the network technology plan.   The draft of the new plan was sent via email to all members with the meeting agenda.  A motion was made by Southwest and seconded by Thedford to approve the SNDEN Technology Plan for 2010-11.  The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Greater Nebraska Educational Network Consortium Report - Gordon Roethemeyer, DEC, explained a draft of the LB1208 white paper and asked for comments and questions regarding it.  The paper will be submitted to the state.  He also provided a chart of DL classes sent and received across the state and discussed statistics for the state DL network.  Mr. Roethemeyer announced the next meeting of the ESU Coordinating Council will be November 18th. 

Ron Cone, ESU 10, reported on challenges involved with getting the mobile carts ready for classroom use.  He is recommending the use of managed switches to create a proper VLAN to prioritize video network transmissions from the carts. He recommends that schools using mobile carts invest in managed switches and stated that a variety of vendors produce the switches.  Interested schools should contact Shirley before purchasing switches to assure uniformity  throughout the network and to make it easier to maintain and support the equipment.

Mr. Cone discussed services provided to schools through the GNEN Consortium and mentioned free services as well as fee-based services available.  Examples of paid services are web content filtering and a new service, Disaster Recovery Back-up which provides storage space for school data.  He discussed a new web browser called SoGo which is being tested by ESU 10 staff as an email service.

Mr. Cone also announced that a bridge has been purchased with a recording feature that can be used for video conferencing and has the ability to connect 16-24 sites.  The bridge can be used with PC computers currently but will soon accommodate Macs.  Contact ESU 10 for more information on use of the bridge.

Bus Driving Training Equipment Issues - Shirley explained that the one of the Bus Driver instructors who sends classes out over the network has been having problems with the lack of an available fax machine at the receiving sites. A fax machine needs to be  available to the drivers at each site so that personal information and tests can be faxed to the instructor at the end of each class.   Administrators were asked to address this issue if they hold classes in their buildings.

E-Rate Application - Shirley reminded the administrators that the network files for E-rate on the DS-3 lines and the federal and Nebraska USF charges.  It’s important that the schools do not file for these items, or there could be a duplication of request that causes the application to be declined.  Schools should file for any local, long distance and E-Rate eligible cell phone services and charges.  Any questions on this should be directed to Shirley.

RUS Grant 2009 - Shirley announced that this grant was not awarded to the network this year, but as she stated earlier there is still one to implement and another to write in 2010.

Videoconferencing Mobile Carts - Ron Cone covered the operation and challenges associated with the new carts earlier in the meeting.

N-ROC - Melissa Engel has uploaded N-ROC to the Moodle server at ESU 16 for school personnel to access.  There is a guest feature for staff to use to view the N-ROC materials at the following website:  http://www.moodle.esu16.org. If you are interested in creating a course for N-ROC, contact Melissa at ESU 16.

Proposed Contracts for DL Service 2010-11 - The group revisited this item with Marge Beatty discussing the network cash reserves and estimated costs for Network Nebraska membership in relation to next year’s budget.  She felt a $600 increase in the annual fee per site should be adequate for next year.  Last year’s total cost for K-12 sites was $20,400 per room.  Proposed fee for next year would be $21,000 total.

It was moved by  Southwest and seconded by Ogallala to set the 2010-11 contract fee for Southwest Nebraska Distance Education Network services at $18,000 per e-rate eligible site, plus $3,000 per site contribution to the depreciation fund, for a total of $21,000 per e-rate eligible site.  Note:  College fees are determined separately due to those entities not qualifying for any e-rate reimbursements.

A roll call vote was taken with the following results:
Voting Yes:   Arapahoe, Arnold, Callaway, Cambridge, Dundy County-Stratton,  ESU 16, Eustis-Farnam, Hershey, Maxwell, Maywood, McCook, Medicine Valley, Mid-Plains Comm. College, Mullen, North Platte, Ogallala, Perkins Co., Southwest,  Stapleton, Sutherland, Thedford, Wallace.

Voting No:  None.

Absent and not voting:  Arthur County, Brady,  Chase County, ESU 15, Hayes Center, Hitchcock County, Hyannis, McPherson County,  Paxton,  Southern Valley, and Wauneta-Palisade.

OTHER

Recognition of Award - Marge Beatty announced that Shirley Schall received the first Wayne Fisher, Outstanding Distance Learning Professional Award at the recent Nebraska Distance Learning Association Conference.  Following is the announcement from the Distance Education Council website:

“Shirley Schall, Receives Outstanding Distance Learning Professional Award
The first ever Wayne Fisher, Outstanding Distance Learning Professional Award was given to Shirley Schall for her many years of dedicated service  to the schools of southwest Nebraska and in recognition of her statewide leadership in the area of distance learning. Shirley has written numerous grants resulting in several million dollars for schools in the Southwest Nebraska Distance Education Network (SWDEN previously known as the SWDLC). The money was used to purchase videoconferencing equipment for nearly 40 schools from the Kansas border to as far north as Hyannis and from the Colorado border to as far east as Arapahoe.
Shirley has also been a leader at the State level, serving as NDLA’s founding president. Serving on the Distance Education Enhancement Task Force in 2005, Shirley's experience in distance education proved to be valuable as the Task Force's work ultimately led to passage of LB 1208, which has had tremendous effective on distance learning in Nebraska with many positive results.”

Congratulations, Shirley!

Introduction - Since Shirley is retiring at the end of this school year, Marge Beatty introduced the new Network Director-Elect, Scott Jones.  Scott is currently serving as principal in Elwood, Nebraska and has committed to accepting the directorship of the SNDEN in the summer of 2010.

Adjournment - A motion was made by North Platte and seconded by Stapleton to adjourn the meeting at 11:40 a.m.  Motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.


_______________________________       
Barbara Hidy
Distance Learning Assistant