APS 2026-2027 Administrative Contracts Accepted April 13

Contracts of Auburn Public Schools (APS) administrators covering the 2026-2027 school year were allowed Monday night, April 13, by the Board of Education.
Their 2026-2027 salary will be listed first, followed by their current pay.
--Superintendent David Patton, $199,160; $191,500. The pact takes effect Wednesday, July 1, 2026 and runs through Saturday, June 30, 2029. Annual salary of subsequent years will be established by the school board.
All others start on or about Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026 and continue through on or about Saturday, July 31, 2027.
--Samantha Wehenkel, director of school improvement and curriculum, $100,000; $85,200.
--Reva Siegel, director of special education, $91,000; $79,000.
--Scott Siegel, secondary principal, $124,000; $118,300.
--Jason Palmer, secondary assistant principal and activities director, $100,000; $95,000.
--Bristol Wenzl, Calvert Elementary principal, $113,000; $108,000.
--Heather Hemmingsen, assistant elementary principal, $84,300, adjustment of title from assistant special education director.
All deals include 220 days of service except Scott Siegel which covers 215 days of service.
Laura Osborne, board president, noted she appreciated the work of APS administrators as they face a lot of challenges.
New, Revised Policies
Five new or updated policies were approved.
--Regarding students, school library materials and parent access; and asthma, anaphylaxis and allergic reaction protocol. The former is new and required by state statute. Parents, guardians and educational decision makers will be provided access to information regarding books available in the school library and an opportunity to be notified when their student checks out a library book. The latter deals with emergency response to life-threatening asthma or systemic allergic reactions and adds anaphylaxis reaction protocol as required by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE).
--In community relations, annual report to be distributed or made available to all APS residents. It shall include information required by NDE Rule 10 and applicable NDE guidance. Results shall be used to plan and make needed changes to improve instruction for all students.
--In business operations, altered procedures on bidding construction projects. Construction, remodeling or repair of any school -owned building or for site improvements will be bid when the contemplated expenditures is in excess of $136,000.
--In new construction, all contracts for work related to building construction, remodeling or repair or site improvement exceeding $136,000 will be bid in accordance with state statutes. All other contracts will be handled under current district policies and regulations.
Additional Action Items
Also allowed by the school board were:
--the agreement with Educational Service Unit (ESU) 4 regarding core services. Those include staff development, technology and instructional material services. They improve teaching and student learning by focusing on enhancing school improvement efforts, meeting statewide requirements; and achieving statewide goals in elementary and secondary education. School districts get access to services that the ESU and its member districts have identified as necessary; are difficult, if not impossible, for most individual districts to effectively and efficiently provide with their own personnel and financial resources and can be efficiently provide to member districts and can be adequately funded to ensure that services are provided equally to Nebraska’s public school districts.
Gregg Robke, ESU 4 administrator, related 2025-2026 funding was $151,081.88, about $57,600 less than the preceding year. He continued he had not obtained a draft regarding 2026-2027 funding.
--a proposal not to exceed $26,500 from Quality Caulking. It entails regular maintenance, removing old caulking and replacing silicone caulking in the stadium bleachers and backer rod joints as needed. The firm has experience in the area and the bid was low compared to others obtained.
--a $297,250 offer from Facility Advocates on the Calvert Elementary boiler replacement.
--a $26,941 bid from REI on bus security camera systems and installation.
--a $5.19 per student bid on a three-year renewal with Parent Square, covering smart alerts on closures, delays and time-sensitive reminders and district wide urgent alerts via text, email and voice.
--maintaining the $100 summer school deposit, which will be refunded upon successful completion.
All action items were unanimously approved 6-0.
Other, May 11 Regular Meeting in Peru
Osborne encouraged public participation in the facility needs telephone survey. Ryan Jones, board member, indicated the survey is progressing.
During the next three months, the school board will meet in other district municipalities. All meetings are Mondays at 5:30 p.m. May 11 at the Peru State College Center for Achievement and Transitional Services conference room. June 8 at the Brownville Town Hall. July 13 at the Julian Community Building.