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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes- April 4, 2017

BOD Meeting Minutes- April 4, 2017

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

In Attendance: Robin Hollis, Margaret Taylor, Joan Marie Belnap, Paige Raper, Julia Toone, Amy Lanning, Kelly Carswell, Kevin Nunley, Bill Scheidt, Chris Gilmore, Doug Punger, Lindsay Deibler, Mabel Robinson, Griff Morgan, Emily Ball, Charlie McCurry, Debbie Linville, Michelle Kennedy, Suzanne Shuford

AGENDA

  1. Meeting Called to Order – Joan Marie Belnap calls the meeting to order. Brittany Emery is not here today but because it’s so early in the month, we wouldn’t have financial reports anyway.
  2. Approval of March 2017 Minutes – Kevin Nunley make a motion to approve the March minutes, seconded by Charlie McCurry, All in favor and the minutes are approved.
  3. Principal’s Report – Robin Hollis generated a Wordle based on teachers’ top 10 reasons they like working at ABS. Staff members work on a one-year contract. Right now, there are no openings to fill for next year. That would change if we expand into the courtyard for next year. Parent satisfaction survey results were sent out. Over the past several years, we have been right around the mid-to-high 90s in terms of parent satisfaction. The 4th grade “Like a Family” performance is tomorrow night in the black box theater. Community Creates – This is our last board meeting before the event. Start thinking about people you would like to invite. We usually bring in between $25,000 and $30,000. There are about 12-14 pieces in the live auction. We are looking for sponsorships for this event. Julee Nunley has done a lot of work on this. If that’s something you are interested in, please let us know. The 6th grade performance is brand new this year. We usually do a documentary film. This year we are doing a combination of math, dance, and music with a choreographer, Thao Nguyen. Doug Punger said Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was wonderful and has a lot of ABS people in it.
  4. Committee Updates – Strategic Planning – Griff Morgan sent out another evolved draft of the strategic plan to board members. Developing and marketing committee has a chance to develop some goals. Emily Ball asks if the points made on the large papers at the retreat are in the draft. Mrs. Hollis says some were added on and some are not strategic plan goals but could be done in committee work. This is a living document that is reviewed regularly. The Board Development committee has worked a lot on the structure of a nominating process and creation of a vision council. This would be a task force of board members, members of vision council, parents, etc. to talk about the feasibility of some of the larger expansion ideas. Chrissy Hardy asks about the Teacher’s Academy. The wording of the goal makes it sound like it is definitely happening. Robin Hollis says it is not definitely happening. Griff Morgan says this is a consideration but not definite and wording can be changed. We originally thought the academy might generate revenue but feel more like it would be revenue neutral. Robin Hollis says we are already doing a lot of this without charging anything. We have had 91 visitors from Salem College alone. We’ve had national coverage: the footage from our arts visit is being show in Washington D.C. Good PR is always good but right now there may be some more backlash about charter schools taking money from public schools even thought charter schools are public schools. Charters sometimes get lumped into the discussion about private schools getting money from public schools. Chrissy Hardy says she would prefer that the goal say we are “working towards” or “exploring” a Teacher’s Academy. Joan Marie Belnap asks about the goal mentioning a foundation. Kevin Nunley says the foundation would also give us flexibility in the future to buy property. If the foundation owned property, the building stays in the event that we lost the charter. If not, the building would go to the state. Griff Morgan says we have good bankers who could help us decide on this. Committee makes the motion to approve the strategic plan so no second is needed. All are in favor and the plan is approved. Facilities – Kevin Nunley says Jeff Brinker is still on the job and Kevin will give him the rest of the week. Kevin has shared some schematics and is Jeff excited to work on the project. We are still a little ways away from having a cost of the project for approval. He is already working on things like whether or not we need more sprinklers, etc. The need for more space is becoming more imminent. There is some research being done on portable units being used temporarily. Amy Lanning helped with an indemnification agreement for Otis. Digging and replacing drainage pipe is scheduled to begin on Monday. Margaret Taylor asks who is paying for this. Neil Foster is paying for it. There was a request for changing of zoning for a building on the other side of 7th Zoning meeting: the request passed 5-4 to change the zoning category. Doug Stimmell met with some of us and they are only adding 45 units and they are adding more parking and have withdrawn their application to change the zoning. The site plan shows that we would feel very little effects once the building is finished. We like downtown development and are supportive of that. The big gain in all of that was a good conversation and being more present in front of the zoning board. It’s known that we are very interested in safety. Linda Pass has offered to volunteer to help with some more pavement markings.

Marketing – Julia Toone reached out to Capture to check on progress. They said they apologize and we are still on their list. Kelly Carswell heard from the person who offered help for a video. He says he hasn’t been able to reach Peter Wilbur yet.

Financial – Robin Hollis says we’ve received over $53,000 in the annual campaign. It’s the greatest total dollars raised ever. Emily Ball and Shannon Wright have done a great job.

Board Development – Charles Cleveland couldn’t be here but Joan Marie Belnap says there will be slate of officers up for election in May as well as new members to consider.

Lindsay Deibler – There is no Parent Council meeting this week but we will meet next month for elections. A volunteer coordinator PC board position is being brought back this year.

  1. Other Business – Joan Marie reports it’s her fifth year serving on the board and she thanks the board for consistent participation.
  2. Adjournment – The meeting is adjourned.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

 

○      Next Meetings: May 9, June 13, NO July meeting

○      Community Creates! Saturday, May 6