BOD Meeting Minutes- May 8, 2018

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday May 8, 2018

Attendees:

Also: Robin Hollis, Paige Raper, Joy Blaser, Yvonne Leab, Mary Siebert

AGENDA

1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45pm Meeting called to order by Kevin Nunley.
2. Approval of April Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – Motion to approve the April minutes made by Brian Cole and seconded by Cheryl Hicks. All are in favor with no one opposed. The minutes are approved.
3. Review of April Financial Results (Brittany) – ACTION REQUIRED – 16% of year remaining. We have used almost all state funding. Net income of $220,000 for the year. We are right on track with where we expected to be based on what has gone on throughout the year. Motion to approve made by Amy Lanning and seconded by Julia Toone. All are in favor with no one opposed. The motion passes.
4. Review of ’18-’19 Budget – (Finance Committee) – We worked on this yesterday. We will discuss it now and vote to approve next month. We are guessing on a slight increase in ADM but we won’t know until August after school has started. We put $5900 in for ADM which is a definite increase but there is some indication that there will be an increase. That is the only change for revenue. We included the develop director. The expenses include an additional 6th grade teacher and a development director. Average 2% increase in salaries which equals $48,000 that Robin can allocate. Also budgeted a $55,000 increase in rent based on construction. We would have a $51,000 deficit for the year. There is a transfer of funds from reserve for $51,000 as a revenue item. Total budget of $4,506,000. The transfer from reserves was already voted on by the board a few months ago knowing that the capital campaign would not have started when construction happened. This is different from the past when we have assumed a level ADM. Total reserves right now at right below $800,000. Joan Marie mentions that if the ADM doesn’t increase we are talking about a large amount that would have to come out of reserves. Are we increasing students with the construction? No, we are solving problems of too-large class size in 6th grade and not enough rooms to have SS and LA separated like every other middle school. We may know something about the ADM before October this year based on what happens in Raleigh. The rally for teachers is not only about teacher salaries. It’s also per pupil spending, school safety, etc. When Raleigh talks about a pay increase of a certain percent it doesn’t always come to charter schools as that amount. This is what we knew was coming. It is more expensive to educate children and revenue is not increasing so there needs to be new revenue sources. It is a critical point but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be worse in two years.
5. Capital Campaign Update (Robin, Joan Marie, Kevin) – Whitney Jones met with the committee to discuss the findings of the feasibility study. There were a lot of positives in the community about the school. The report was e-mailed out to board members prior to the meeting. There was feedback from several people that we need a development director. There was also talk of the need for campaign leadership. The idea of our campaign was positive to most people but there was no one individual coming forward as a leader. Joan Marie reports that the calendar has shifted a bit in that large corporations don’t give at all until the month of your calendar comes up. The teacher academy was noted as a possible connection to the community that might help. The goal over the next year or so before we are on the calendar will be to get people into the school to be connected and see the energy. Another challenge noted was that we can’t select our student population like a private school can. We don’t have a parent population that can raise $500,000. Project Impact has also reached some of the donors that may have been willing to donate to a cause like our school. There is also the question of the arts community being donors. There were some donors who mentioned wanting to be asked once for the larger amount vs. a small campaign and then a larger campaign a couple of years later. Ellen Heck asks if the board will be open to corporations donating with some expectation of certain use of their product or something similar. We had the opportunity for naming rights in the previous campaign. The next step is to communicate with individuals on the interview list and keep them updated and connected to the school.
6. Construction Update (Kevin) – We have had delays due to the engineers and contractors being busy in Winston-Salem. Both Don and Neal have done a great job pressing forward and right now we have a total budget $595,350. When Don put together an estimate he had it at $560,000. There are things Don feels like could be adjusted out some to save some money. The other side of this other than cost is the timing of all of this. We are late getting started. The permits still have not been issued. Don thinks they will be issued by May 15th. If they don’t come back until the end of the month, we are really close to the end of school. Will he start very close to the end of the school year knowing he needs to make adjustments to working with students here or is it better to just wait another week or so until summer break? We don’t think it will be ready until the end of September next year. Robin assures us that we can work around it. The goal is to have it down to the finish work at the start of the school year.
7. Committee Updates – Various – Matthew Donnell is moving to Pennsylvania. He and his wife will start at jobs with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Debbie Linville is retiring and leaving the board. We have approved three new members but now will be looking for two more NON PARENT members to stay in compliance with our parent/non-parent ratio. There may be an e-mail vote depending on the timing of new candidates. Strategic Planning – Bill Scheidt – expanding announcements of job openings to increase diversity of applicant pool. UNCG, WSSU, ministers in W-S. Alternate sources of income – renting out bus, Ewing Theater, wraparound services like afterschool programs and summer programs. Finance – We are working on an account that will accept stock as donations and should have that by the end of the year. Marketing – Ellen Heck – There is a lot of great footage from the day of filming. Next year will be focused on getting the word out with videos and posters.
8. Principal’s Report (Robin) – EOG/EOC testing is coming up and is required by the state. State superintendent is talking about reducing testing. June 12th we will review data. Parents will receive the info at parent conferences. Motion to authorize Robin to submit for grants made by Margaret Taylor, seconded by Matthew Donnell. All are in favor. No one opposed – the motion passes. Rally is unclear right now. We would love to be supportive. If we have requests for more than 5 or 6 subs it would be very challenging. We have requests from three teachers right now to be out that day to attend the rally. As of right now, WS/FCS is still calling for school on May 16th. Cheryl Hicks asks where we get our subs. We use a private company -Kelly Services. We do not have access to the school system sub system. Motion to allow Robin to make a decision about having school on May 16th made by Bill Scheidt, seconded by Julia Toone. All in favor. No one opposed. The motion passes. Teacher appreciation week. Each day has a theme and there is a lunch for the teachers later this week. Middle school band concerts this week in the Ewing Theater. Fourth graders go to Raleigh on the 11th. Final performance of the year is 1st grade – it is a Chinese fairy tale. 8th grade graduation in the Ewing Theater. Community Creates was wonderful. There was great turnout from board members. It was the biggest live auction we’ve ever had. Ticket sales were great. We had concerns about being in that building but it worked very well.
9. Parent Council Updates – Joy Blaser – last PC meeting of the year on Friday. We will have elections with great candidates at this meeting.
10. Other Business
11. Adjournment – 6:45pm Motion to adjourn made by Amy Lanning, seconded by Bill Scheidt. All are in favor with no one opposed – the meeting is adjourned.

Looking Ahead:

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

●      Board Meeting – June 12