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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes- August 9, 2016

BOD Meeting Minutes- August 9, 2016

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday August 9th, 2016

In Attendance: Eric Prior, Margaret Taylor, Julia Toone, Linda Pass, Brittany Emery, Joan Marie Belnap, Debbie Linville, Griff Morgan, Charles Cleveland, Doug Punger, Cheryl Harry, Amy Lanning, Kelly Carswell, Paige Raper, Robin Hollis, Kevin Nunley, Julee Nunley, Michelle Kennedy, Emily Ball, Heather Smith, Chrissy Hardy, Chris Gilmore

AGENDA

  1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45PM –Meeting is called to order at 5:45.
  2. Introduction of New Board Members – Linda Pass and Julia Toone are introduced. Charlie McCurry and Bill Scheidt will be joining us in September.
  3. Approval of June Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:50-5:55PM – During the June discussion on construction in the 7th Street building, we discussed approving up to $35,000 for the total of drain and building. A motion was made by Margaret Taylor to include the $35,000 figure into the minutes and Heather Smith seconded it. No one was opposed. The motion passes with the edit for $35,000. Charles Cleveland will form a committee and go through a process for consistency for board members coming on. Laura Luykx has moved to Dallas and will no longer serve on the board to complete her board term.
  4. Review of June Financials (Brittany Emery) 5:55-6:05PM We don’t have July financials yet from Acadia. The end of the fiscal year is June 30th. Forsyth County Schools has a good chunk outstanding but we’re not sure how much yet. You will also see the Alex Ewing fund for $300,000 added in. Charles Cleveland asks if the Alex Ewing money will be designated as capital campaign. It is a designated gift but not a capital campaign gift. We keep a separate sheet for the theater project and the building upgrades in the 7th Street building building. Motion to approve the June financials is made by Michelle Kennedy, Eric Prior seconds; all are in favor with no one opposed. The motion to approve the June financials passes. Insurance – The policy is renewing as of now. We met to discuss whether or not there were better options out there. It is hard to compare apples to apples so we will renew for 6 months and during that time we will research other options. Doug Punger volunteers to help with this as he has experience. The finance committee will meet to work on this.
  5. Facilities Update (Kevin Nunley) – 6:05-6:15 PM – Lots of work has been done this summer. When we last met we discussed the need to do renovations in the 7th St building and the MLK backspace. We started on the theater and had to pause when the structural engineer found that the support is inadequate. We are still waiting to get the news on how much it will cost to support the floor and the ceiling. A lot of work has been done but there are things still TBD (like a lift) depending on the cost of structural support work. The 7th Street building has passed inspection, the Certificate of Occupancy is here, and everything looks great. The new dance room and two classrooms in the MLK building are done and passed inspections as well. We can’t have a production in the backspace right now. The first production back there is in November and we are going to use the time before that to get everything done. Even as of last week it has been transformed a lot. We have verbal support from our donor, Alex Ewing, to go ahead with the project. Robin Hollis reports that we have spoken with the builder and there will be no interference while students are in session. Back to school night will be different than in years past because we used to start with everyone in the backspace. Margaret Taylor asks about water in the 7th St building. There is no problem even with all of the rain we’ve had lately. Linda Pass has given some advice on that and we are continuing to work on it. We have been very conscientious about the drains in the courtyard as well. The next phase of school construction has been discussed with Neil Foster and he is on board with making changes. If we are considering building into the courtyard, we would need plans and then estimates on cost. We are waiting on that discussion for after the school year starts. Julia Toone asks where the new dance classrooms is located. Kevin Nunley says we took Ms. Koza’s and Ms. Farrell’s old classrooms and made the dance space out of one and a third rooms and then the two-thirds left will be computer lab. Julia asks if Friday Sing would fit in the café. It will not. Someone suggested closed captioning the sing for people who can’t attend.
  6. Principal’s Report (Robin) – 6:15-6:25PM – We apologize for the late arrival of the materials. We strive to send things out the week before the board meeting. Our enrollment is at 518 and that is what we built the budget on. It’s a moving target. We will have people call and drop and then we pull from the waiting list. We start earlier than surrounding schools so students haven’t started school somewhere else if they get a spot. Our first day is August 17th and parent council discussed that it is earlier than WSFCS. A motion is made to approve faculty roster. Kevin Nunley makes the motion and Emily Ball seconds the motion. All are in favor and no one opposed. The staff roster is approved. Staff development – We returned from A+ training in Banner Elk. A+ is a national group of educators helping educators integrate the arts. It’s so great to be with our staff and play together before a new year starts. The state legislature paid for this this year. In the past we have paid for this but this year it was funded. DPI has a department for arts integration. Teacher workdays started on the 8th. We will be back on campus tomorrow. Special visits are Thursday and Friday where students can meet with teachers. Sometimes teachers go to the students’ homes and sometimes students come to the classroom. Michelle Kennedy asks if the budget for staff development is only for licenses or if we can do other things. Robin likes for the development to match what the teacher is passionate about. We’ve never run out of money and we’ve never said “no” for something teachers want to do. Ron Clark Academy was a big push a few years ago. We had a donor who was excited about that and several of our teachers have gone there.

 

  1. Approval of Faculty and Student Handbook Changes – ACTION REQUIRED 6:30-6:35PM – Every few years we try to edit this and make sure it’s still current with our practices. Some additions are things that we do but have never put in writing. One piece that is important is public displays of affection. We want a school where kids can hug their friend and hold hands, but we also want everyone to feel comfortable being able to say something is interrupting learning. Another one is the visiting policy. People love us and want to spend time here. Student services were added as well as student medications. Chrissy Hardy asks if the forms mentioned should be a part of the handbook. Robin Hollis says this is posted on the website and the forms are also on the website. We may print this one because there are changes and additions. Doug Punger said there could be a link to the form. Emily Ball says it says public discipline of affection instead of display. Chrissy Hardy asks about the directory being online. Could it be a Google doc? Not everyone wants their information shared on the website. Motion to approve the handbook changes made by Doug Punger and seconded by Kevin Nunley. All are in favor with no one opposed. The motion passes. We will do this with the employee handbook later this year. Margaret Taylor says we should check with Griff Morgan about the overtime law and Robin says he already gave her some information.
  2. Other Business – 6:35-6:45PM – Michelle Kennedy asks about the next fundraiser. Community Creates is May 6th and the Annual Campaign dates are still be decided. Last year we ran it in January. There was some discussion about moving it to the fall so that people can get in donations before the end of the year. Because it is our 15th year, we may have an event to honor Alex and show off the black box theater. Griff Morgan asks if he should be on a committee and doesn’t know which ones are working. Joan Marie Belnap says a list will be sent with the committees and people will sign up where they are interested. Margaret Taylor says some groups work as working groups and Eric Prior says part of this distinction is because of the documentation required for open meeting laws. Kelly Carswell asks if she could know about volunteer opportunities. Robin Hollis says the best way to find out about this is in Thursday Notes. Heather Smith asks if Stephanie LeFever should add the board members to Help Counter. Fall Fest is Oct. 1st with rain date on Oct. 8th. Robin says it’s very nice to have board members at events so parents and families can put a face to a name.
  3. Adjournment – 6:45PM – The meeting is adjourned at 6:45.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

○      NEXT Board Meeting – Tuesday September 13th