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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes-May 9, 2017

BOD Meeting Minutes-May 9, 2017

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

In Attendance: Joan Marie Belnap, Robin Hollis, Paige Raper, Eric Prior, Charles Cleveland, Doug Punger, Julia Toone, Brittany Emery, Suzanne Shuford, Chrissy Hardy, Bill Scheidt, Charlie McCurry, Margaret Taylor, Lyndon Bray, Sullivan Bray, Kevin Nunley, Linda Pass, Debbie Linville, Griff Morgan, Heather Smith

AGENDA

  • Meeting Called to Order – Joan Marie Belnap calls the meeting to order. Lyndon Bray introduces himself and his son Sullivan, a second grader. The board members introduce themselves. Congratulations to Doug Punger for being awarded a state award on volunteering for children.
  • Approval of April 2017 Minutes – Motion to approve the April minutes made Eric Prior and seconded by Doug Punger. All are in favor – the motion passes and minutes are approved.
  • Review of YTD financial statements – Brittany Emery is reporting on two months of financials because last month’s meeting came too early for financials to be prepared. April – net income of $84,000, year to date is $312,000 excluding the reserve compared to $251,000 last year. Margaret Taylor asks if the theatre is finished in terms of expenditures. Robin Hollis says there is still donated money left for the sound system. We weren’t sure what we wanted to buy. Brittany Emery says there is $28,000 left in the budget and that is enough for the sound system. We will be meeting in the next month to discuss the budget. We will email a draft budget to the board so there is time to review it before a vote at the June meeting on June 13th. The state requires us to submit a passed budget by July 1st. Motion to approve the financials made by Margaret Taylor and seconded by Linda Pass. All are in favor and the motion passes.
  • Principal’s Report – Approval is needed for Mrs. Hollis to submit the Title I grant in June. Title I grant pays for a piece of our remedial reading teacher. This is based on the percentage of children eligible for free or reduced lunch. Julia Toone makes a motion to approve; Debbie Linville seconds the motion. All are in favor and the motion passes. We are gearing up for testing season. In 10 days our Math I EOC will be given and then every day thereafter will have testing. Our students do very well on those and Mrs. Hollis will give some preliminary information over the summer. Some budget considerations were sent out with regard to the budget. We are looking for a 2% salary increase for teachers, a social studies teacher, and a part-time school counselor. Our students receive social studies and language arts in one class period. This is different from the schools around us. This is due to parent feedback and also our own concerns about delivering the required curriculum. We are assuming costs of retirement and health insurance will increase. Eric Prior explains that if we add classroom space, we will have some additional costs for equipment. Legislative update – one thing with a lot of press was related to class size. There was some discussion around schools cutting specials to meet the requirement. Right now, charter schools set their own class size. It’s unclear if teaching assistants are included in that teacher/student ratio. Suicide prevention and mental health is also something being discussed. This time of year we like to tell you about our teachers so information on experience and degrees was sent with the report. Tarmey has let us know that she won’t be returning and we have started interviewing for that position.
  • Committee Reports:
  • Board Member Nominations/Officer Slate – Charles Cleveland reports that the committee has a slate of board officers to bring forward with Kevin Nunley as president, Margaret Taylor as secretary, Griff Morgan as Vice Chair, and Brittany Emery as treasurer. Motion to approve came from committee. All are in favor and the motion passes. Board Class of 2020: we have more nominees than we have positions to fill. The eight candidates were all strong with great skills. We are allowed between 7 and 24 board members. We have four members retiring and one resignation. We are bringing four candidates forward. With the parent restrictions, we can have 7 parents on the board. We are maxed out on that right now. Some applicants were parents. Brian Cole, Dean of Music at UNCSA – He has a daughter graduating this year. Kyle Barnes, financial staff at Hanes Brand, Matthew Donnell, Director of Preparatory Dance at UNCSA, Ellen Heck, an artist has contributed to Community Creates for a couple of The committee makes the motion. All are in favor and the motion passes. We will communicate with those not selected and encourage them to be involved in some way – perhaps committee work. Joan Marie asks when we will have orientation for those new members. Robin Hollis says we will have orientation before the August meeting because there is no July meeting scheduled. Charles Cleveland reminds the board that we voted to put together an advisory board.
  • Facilities Update – Kevin Nunley reports that the 7th Street building is dry. The repairs fell short of our overall goal to repair to the railroad tracks. Our neighbor didn’t give permission at the eleventh hour to go on his property. Neil Foster already had a plan in place to work on our side of the property. The existing drainpipe was clear and faultless. We replaced the pipe on our property and put in a box. We bought ourselves a lot of time but not forever. The drain Linda Pass designed is working perfectly. Neil waterproofed the building and put in a new drain. It’s been well tested with lots of rain since spring break. Our neighbor is willing to sign into an agreement with Neil to have some access in the future. Another big update is the possible expansion that we continue to look at in the courtyard. Jeff Brinker says he has time and wants to meet next week. What he is putting together will allow us to get a ballpark figure for what that construction might cost. We need that to plan a budget, hiring teachers, etc. Some piece of this will be feasible and absolutely needed. Gut feeling would be late fall as a possibility to get into any new space or classrooms. Hopefully by the next meeting we will have looked at the budget and have some designs to look at. Margaret asks if there is a parent lined up to take over for Matt Mayers in the ABS gardens. Yes, Kristin Haaf. Robin Hollis says Matt Mayers won the Presidential Volunteer award.
  • Community Creates – Heather Smith reports that last year we brought in $14,000 in the live auction and this year we were over $19,000 at the live auction. Robin Hollis says we had great turnout with guests. Heather says we had increased sponsorship, live and silent auction. $22,500 was raised last year; this year we are over $30,000 net.
  • Other Committees
  • Other Business – Julia Toone says the marketing committee met yesterday and discussed the strategic plan. She is asking for an amendment on the marketing piece. Griff Morgan has another amendment possibility and will gather those all and bring them forward. Doug Punger asks if there needs to be an evaluation of Robin Hollis. Yes, in June. Robin will get something together for the committee. Lyndon Bray is proud of the work the board does and thanks the board for their hard work. Robin Hollis tells the board that Mr. Bray is volunteering a lot on traffic duty and helping Claire O’Boyle.
  • Adjournment

 

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

○      Next Meetings: June 13, No July meeting, August 8