Author Archive: esucc

ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing Interlocal Agreements

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Recently, there have been an increasing number of discussions in Nebraska regarding interlocal agreements amongst various organizations and government-funded institutions. To bring clarity to this conversation, the ESU Coordinating Council is sharing the following message to inform Nebraskans on (1) what an interlocal agreement entails and (2) how the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing efforts leverage interlocal agreements to bring millions of dollars in cost-savings benefits to our municipalities and the education community statewide.

What is an interlocal agreement?

An interlocal agreement is a legal agreement between two or more public agencies, including a county, city, village, an agency of the state government, ESUs, or school districts, to cooperate on specific projects or services.

In other words, there are times when a project of service requires coordination and cooperation between multiple jurisdictions, and in those instances, it can make sense to combine resources and expertise to achieve common goals. It’s people working collectively to accomplish goals that they would not be able to achieve as efficiently and/or as cost-effectively without working together.

How does it work?

There are some purchases that are essential expenses for virtually every school district. Things like paper and cleaning supplies might be among the first things that come to mind. But if you consider things like classroom furniture, playground equipment, one-to-one technology – both hardware and software, scoreboards for gyms and fields – the list quickly becomes extensive!

This is where the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing through interlocal agreements helps save districts time and money. Coop Purchasing solicits and negotiates with various vendors on the collective behalf of member districts/entities. As such, districts do not have to spend time with the bidding/negotiating process and can instead focus their efforts on their students, teachers, and learning. Furthermore, by streamlining the collective buying power through a single contract, Nebraska schools can essentially buy in bulk and volume, which lowers the cost of each and every one of these essential items.

What is the extent of these savings?

In the 2021-2022 school year alone, the ESUCC saved Nebraska schools $6.7 million dollars through cooperative purchasing. And over the past five school years, the total is $28.8 million. In this way, interlocal agreements empower school districts across Nebraska to work with the ESUCC to save time, personnel, and monetary resources, together.

For more information about the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing program, go to our page: Cooperative Purchasing – ESU CC or contact Craig Peterson at: craig.peterson@esucc.org

So Much Time and So Little To Do

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By Scott Isaacson, ESUCC

“We have so much time and so little to do…  Strike that.  Reverse it.”– Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1971.

In these times of the virus, remote work, and family isolation, our life can seem reversed, scrambled, upside down. With so much change so fast, new uncertainties, worry, and kids needing our attention, focusing is hard. It is tempting to flutter all day from one need to the next, but all that thrashing around from meeting to meeting, task to task, thought to thought leaves us empty-handed at the end of the day.  We feel like we didn’t really do or finish anything. 

This is my struggle, and isn’t limited to only these circumstances, but any time of too much to do and not enough time to do it.  This post is about how to pull some order and productivity out of a chaotic time.

It’s important to realize and admit that I can only do a few things well in one day. I do not multitask well and I suspect very few can. Yes, my to-do list and inbox are full, but I can’t handle it all at once. Some years ago I read David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done“, and his suggestions have been very helpful to me. 

One is keeping a list of thoughts, tasks and projects.  This list is a parking place for the interrupting thoughts and ideas that come up as I’m working on other things.  Writing these down in one consistent place allows my mind to trust that I’ve captured what’s needed so I can leave it for now and switch quickly back to the main task at hand. 

It seems to work best for me to pick two or three priorities each day and focus on those.  Dividing my day’s time into significant chunks to work on those priorities, I can often make noticeable progress. Preparing for the next day, I revisit the list and decide which items are priority then. 

Weekly or so, review the list. Allen says that each item on the list must be “actionable”.  Decide on a next step for each item, and whether that step needs to happen at a certain time or as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that one person can only do a limited number of things. If I continue to let my to-do list grow faster than I can complete projects then eventually some will not happen. It’s better to realize this and say No strategically up front before over committing. Saying No can be difficult but serves everyone better by being realistic about what can be done. 

I certainly have much yet to learn and practice in managing my own time. I hope some of these strategies will help you and that you might join our conversation about how you manage time and priorities.

What is your strategy to focus and get things done?  How do you choose what you will do today?