Superintendent and Business Manager Descriptions
September 17, 2026 – Not Optional: What Every Superintendent Needs to Know About Special Education
Congratulations, you're a superintendent. You may think - why does this session apply to me? This session breaks down the federal requirements under IDEA and Section 504 that generate the most confusion, the most complaints, and the most invoices from your school attorney. We'll walk through the Nebraska Department of Education complaint process and due process hearings, explain what triggers them, what they cost, and, most usefully, what you can do right now to avoid them entirely.
October 20, 2026 – Hired, But Did You Do It Right? Unpacking Nebraska's Most Complicated Hiring Requirements
You found a great candidate, they accepted the job, and you're feeling pretty good about yourself. Did you run the sexual misconduct screening? Get the 48-210 consent form signed? Navigate veteran's preference correctly? Check your ban the box compliance? No? Well. This session walks through the legal requirements you might have forgotten and sends you home with a practical checklist that works whether you're hiring a teacher or a night custodian.
November 17, 2026 – Let's Make a Deal: Jumpstarting Negotiations
Nobody goes into school administration dreaming of negotiations, and yet here it comes. This session covers topics like: mandatory versus permissive subjects of bargaining, your array, comparability, and relevant court and CIR decisions. We'll also tackle items that should never end up in your negotiated agreements.
December 15, 2026 – New Board, Same Problems? New Year Organizational Meeting, Open Meetings, and Divided Boards
This session prepares you for the first sixty days of a new board year: running a legally sound meeting, navigating the Nebraska Open Meetings Act without accidentally creating chaos, and managing a divided or dysfunctional board without losing your mind or your job. We'll also spend time on board member conduct and social media, because nothing generates attorney fees quite like a board member who discovers they have opinions and a Facebook account at the same time.
January 13, 2027 – The Board's Most Important Decisions: Superintendent Contracts and Evaluations
This session covers what Nebraska law requires in a superintendent contract, what belongs in one even when the statutes don't say so, and what the evaluation process is.
February 18, 2027 – The Fine Print: Teacher Contracts, Contract Renewals, and Getting Adverse Employment Action Right Under Nebraska Law
Spring arrives fast, and with it the most consequential and most deadline-driven personnel decisions of the school year. Nebraska law gives you specific timelines for nonrenewal and termination that do not care about your spring break schedule or the fact that you've been really busy. Miss the deadline and you may end up with an employee you didn't intend to keep. This session covers the difference between nonrenewal and termination, what due process actually requires, and how to document performance concerns. Pay attention — this one has hard deadlines.
March 16, 2027 – The Dynamic Duo: FMLA and the ADA in Your School District
Separately, FMLA and the ADA will each keep you up at night. Together, they're basically a full-time job. This session covers when employees qualify for FMLA leave, how to designate and document it correctly, and what happens when the twelve weeks run out and the employee still isn't back. We then turn to the ADA's reasonable accommodation requirements, including the interactive process that your district must engage in — yes, must — when an employee requests an accommodation. Most importantly, we'll work through the scenarios where both laws apply simultaneously.
April 14, 2027 – Show Me the Files: Surviving Public Records Requests, FERPA, and Everything in Between
Someone wants your records. Maybe it's a parent. Maybe it's the local newspaper guy. Maybe it's that patron who has made your district their personal hobby. The Nebraska Public Records Act says you have to share. FERPA says some things you absolutely cannot share. This session cuts through any confusion and tells you exactly when you must disclose, when you must refuse, and what to do when a records request hits your inbox at 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. We'll also cover the student records questions that come up most often: divorced parents, subpoenas, and requests that are technically legal but feel completely wrong.
May 18, 2027 – You've Got Mail (And None of It Is Good): IRS Letters, NPERS, and Procurement
Nobody became a school business manager because they dreamed of opening envelopes from the IRS. And yet here we are. This session tackles the three categories of mail that make business managers consider a career in something — anything — else: the IRS letter that arrives with no context, the NPERS audit finding that somehow traces back to a retire, rehire employee, and the procurement violation that surfaces right in the middle of your federal program review. We'll tell you what the IRS letters that hit school districts most often actually mean and — more importantly — what to do before you write a check or say something you can't take back. We'll untangle the NPERS questions that never seem to get simpler. And we'll close with the procurement rules that apply when you're spending federal dollars.
June 17, 2027 – Time Is Money: The FLSA and Its Quirks
The Fair Labor Standards Act turns 88 years old this year, and school districts are still getting it wrong in the exact same ways. This session walks through the overtime and minimum wage traps that catch schools most often, with special attention to: the para who also coaches, the employee who "volunteers" to help out at the Saturday event that is definitely work, and employees who receive a salary. We'll identify where your district's exposure is and hand you practical options for fixing it.
July 13, 2027 – Open Mic: Q&A and Year-in-Review
Every Rookies & Refreshers session saves time for questions, but this one belongs entirely to you. Bring the issue that kept you up in March. Bring the question you were embarrassed to ask in front of everyone in February. Bring the thing that happened in April that you still don't understand. The KSB attorneys will also come prepared to ask you a few things:
What came up this year that we never covered?
What do you want on next year's agenda?
What's keeping you up at night heading into 2027–28?