BOD Meeting Minutes- February 12, 2019

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS MLK Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday February 12, 2019

Attendees:

Also in Attendance: Robin Hollis, Paige Raper, Mary Siebert

AGENDA

1. Meeting Called to Order – 6:45pm – Meeting called to order at 6:52pm.
2. Approval of January Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – Motion to approve the minutes made by Linda Pass and seconded by Brian Cole. All are in favor with no one opposed. The minutes are approved.
3. Review of January Financial Results (Brittany) – ACTION REQUIRED – Financials look very good. There is a net surplus of $184,000 for the year. Everything is on track with where we expect them to be. We got the $14,000 insurance payment from the hurricane damage. Linda makes a motion to approve and Chrissy Hardy seconds. All are in favor with no one opposed. The financials are approved.
4. Review and approval of Form 990 (Brittany) – ACTION REQUIRED – The audit and 990 were sent out. There was a change in accounting rules for 2017-2018 school year. Teachers participate in state retirement and benefits. The state administers the program but charter schools must now have our portion in our audit. We now show a non-cash liability for $4 million. If something catastrophic happened, we aren’t responsible for the whole $4 million – just the portion for that contract year. Margaret Taylor asks if we are out of compliance in the audit because of this. No, we are not. We will put a section in our audit from now on that explains this. Other charter schools are in the same position if they participate in the state retirement system. The liability seems to range from $3 million to $8 million for most schools. The 990 is a reflection of the audit. This year it looks very odd. Bill Scheidt clarifies that we can have an explanation for the capital campaign donors so it doesn’t affect the campaign. Motion to approve the 990 made by Brian Cole and seconded by Bill Scheidt. All are in favor with no one opposed. The motion is approved.
5. Audit – Motion to approve the audit made by committee seconded by Linda Pass. All are in favor with no one opposed. The audit is approved.
6. Committee Updates – Various – Development Committee met to discuss Community Creates. We are looking for sponsors for the event right now. We’re looking for anything from $250 to $5000. If you can think of anyone we might want to ask, please let the committee know.
7. Change in bylaws to allow 50% board participation from parents – ACTION REQUIRED – We voted last year to increase our board participation by parents from 30% to 50%. We voted in favor last February and now we need a second vote. Motion to approve by Margaret Taylor and seconded by Amber Dalholt. All are in favor. No one opposed. Michelle Kennedy voted via phone.
8. Capital Campaign Update – ACTION REQUIRED – We met with Whitney Jones last week to discuss their possible participation in our upcoming capital campaign. Whitney Jones worked with our last capital campaign. They work with a lot of foundations, corporate donors, etc. They envision a campaign to last 15 months and see $1.5M to $2M as a possible amount for us to raise. They would help us to find campaign leadership and work through the entire campaign. We can’t raise that amount of money without those connections and that help. It’s going to take them and our development team working together to raise the money. The contract is for a 15-month commitment at $10,000 a month. If we raise $1.5M, it is ten percent going to Whitney Jones. There is urgency in getting that contract signed because this is the critical period leading up to a campaign. Ellen Heck asks if this is what Whitney Jones charges for all campaigns. Maybe not a very large campaign. Does the development team want to work with Whitney? Yes, that’s where this came from. Margaret Taylor asks how we would pay for that fee. It would come out of reserves temporarily until we raise the money in the campaign. Brian Cole comments that if we want to raise the money, we need to hire someone. We can’t raise that on our own. Whitney has worked with us before and we’re not starting “from scratch”. Linda Pass breaks this down into 80 hours a month for a professional fee of about $100-$120 an hour. Our current development team would work on continuing the relationships with donors after the Capital Campaign. There is no guarantee to raise the total amount. Whitney is fair and an expert at what he does. Motion to approve the contract with Whitney Jones made by Brian Cole and seconded by Bill Scheidt. All in favor with no one opposed.
9. Principal’s Report (Robin) – The lottery took place before this meeting. Having so many applicants for so few spots is good news for a school but reminds us of the need to continue to look into replication. 4th and 5th grade teachers received bonuses for student growth from the state.
   1. School Calendar Approval – ACTION REQUIRED This closely resembles WS/FCS calendar. Feedback was already gathered from staff and parents. Motion to approve made by Linda Pass and seconded by Brian Cole. All in favor. No one opposed. The calendar is approved.
10. Parent Council Updates – January Jam raised over $800 this year. Parent Council will be gathering feedback from parents on replication.
11. Other Business – Romeo and Juliet on the Border is Feb 28th. It’s a great show. No tickets are required and it’s at First Pres with plenty of seats. Summer Camp information is almost ready to get out to parents. Everything is complete and back to the attorney for non-profit status. We had the first official meeting to get that finalized and turned in. The afterschool program is humming along. It’s working well as an additional revenue stream. Ellen Heck asks about the second sinkhole recently on Chestnut and if we are concerned about our buildings. We were told that paving is the final step on the RR tracks. A lot of the work has been done.
12. Adjournment – 7:45pm – Motion to adjourn made by Tomisha Gladman and seconded by April Ruffin-Adams. All are in favor with no one opposed. The meeting is adjourned.

Looking Ahead:

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

●      Board Meeting – March 12

○      Community Creates – May 4