BOD Meeting Minutes- March 8, 2016

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

In Attendance: Renee Semones, Joan Marie Belnap, Laura Luykx, Brittany Emery, Kevin Nunley, Margaret Taylor, Doug Punger, Amy Lanning, Kelly Carswell, Debbie Linville, Chrissy Hardy, Heather Smith, Paige Raper, Emily Ball, Griff Morgan, Michelle Kennedy, Lindsey Deibler, Robin Hollis

AGENDA

1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45PM – Meeting called to order by Heather Smith. Heather Smith welcomes Chrissy Hardy to the board and welcomes Michelle Kennedy who was at the January retreat.
2. Approval of February 2016 Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:45-5:47PM Motion to approve the February minutes made by Margaret Taylor and seconded by Debbie Linville. All are in favor and no one opposed. The motion to passes.
3. Principal’s Report including Review and Approval of School Calendar – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:47-6:15PM – Robin Hollis review the Principal’s Report that went out by email last week. MAP results from January were reviewed. The test is adaptive and taken on a computer. It helps identify missing skills for a student or group of students. It also helps identify “what’s next” for a student. We pay for half-day subs for teachers to meet as a grade level and review test result data. This helps inform the next steps for teaching, lesson planning, etc. The EOG results come when it is “too late” for that grade level’s teacher. Our students perform above the national norm in all areas and grade levels on MAP testing. The numbers given are grade level means. There are students who are not performing at grade level yet. There are also students who are scoring well above grade level.

School calendar discussion: A draft went out last week and copies are being given tonight. We need to have 180 days. The overwhelming support was for what was originally draft ‘A’. The start date is close to what ours was this year but it will be quite a bit earlier than the school system who is starting later. This calendar is very similar to this year except that Easter is much later next year. Our spring break is usually near Easter. Some parents asked for snow make up days to move to the end of Spring Break. Teachers requested that Dec 21 be a half-day to clean up rooms and get things settled before break. This made the last day of school a Friday instead of a Monday. Emily Ball asks if there are other early release days. Yes, near conferences in January and March. Motion to approve the school calendar by Doug Punger and seconded by Michelle Kennedy. All are in favor and no one opposed. The calendar is approved.

Lice discussion: A parent asked that this be discussed at the February Parent Council meeting and it was. The parent is concerned about the no-nit policy. Heather Smith would like to see the executive committee or a small committee considers this and brings it forth for discussion at the April meeting. Margaret Taylor asks about the school system. The school system changed a couple of years ago. The health department was consulted to help craft the county’s policy. Perhaps they could be contacted to get some information. Margaret Taylor is volunteering to serve on this committee. Margaret asks if we have a parent pediatrician. We do, and she has shared information with us.

Tuesday Tutoring – We have operated this for a few years after school on Tuesdays. This is for students who qualify based on data. There have been teacher concerns about the effectiveness of meeting once a week at the end of the day. The teachers have discussed using that time for planning for differentiated lessons during the school day. This would allow them to have time to plan for not only struggling students but also those who are ready to move on in advanced work. Our middle school teachers often do more than one day a week. We would like to continue the conversation and pilot this last trimester. This is not a large group of students. Michelle Kennedy asks if the parents would have additional resources for those students. Margaret Taylor asks if there are other resources in place during the day. Yes, with specialized teachers. Some may remember that we discussed doing an AIG program and haven’t heard back from the state yet. This would allow us to focus on those students as well. You will see this with EOG data. Our students do well with achievement but sometimes struggle with growth. Griff Morgan asks about the MAP numbers and asks if 10 points above is a lot or very significant. Mrs. Hollis wants everyone to see that our students are learning and can show it on standardized tests and are also enjoying a rich arts-integrated environment. The family also gets a MAP score report on their child each trimester. This tells parents where a student ranks relative to their class and the nation.

4. Review of YTD financial statements—pending availability (Renee) – 6:15-6:20PM – Financial statements are not prepared yet because the first day of the month was Tuesday.
5. Board Nominations (Griff) – ACTION REQUIRED 6:20-6:30PM – We have discussed increasing our diversity on the board. Our policy requires no more than 24 members and no more than 30% board members. We currently have 19 board members. Board members serve 3-year terms and can renew for an addition three-year term. Heather Smith says the class sizes are relatively equal. Margaret Taylor asks if we would still have room to add an architect. With the addition of these four members we still have room for one more and three are rolling off on July 1st.

Griff Morgan speaks about Nigel Austin who had a niece at this school. He has been involved in the community and works at GMAC. He does board training and leadership training. He is the interim exec director of the NC Black Repertory Company. He writes a newspaper column every other Saturday. He served as a Community Creates leader one year.

Cheryl Harry – Works at Old Salem. She runs a group called the Triad Cultural Arts.

Mabel Robinson – Just retired as artistic director of NC Black Repertory Company. Has appeared on Broadway and in a number of movies. She works with teen productions.

Christopher Gilmore – Christopher is a doctor and his wife is very active with the Montessori school.

Margaret Taylor wants us to be intentional about when we’re bringing new board members on and have a structured system. Doug Punger asks if these people should officially start on July 1. Heather says yes, Michelle Kennedy, Griff Morgan, and Chrissy Hardy are officially finishing others’ terms. Robin Hollis says there will be a short orientation to the board before next month’s meeting. Motions made to approve all candidates by Griff Morgan. Margaret Taylor seconds the motion. All are in favor with no one opposed.

6. Facilities Update (Kevin) – 6:30-6:40PM – Kevin Nunley updates that the fixes Neil has made have worked so far regarding water entering the 7th St building. Construction on the apartment complex on the corner is moving forward. The no trespassing signs have already gone up in the gravel lot. Mrs. Hollis talked with the foreman about her concern about construction parking on Chestnut. He assured Mrs. Hollis that his crew would not park on Chestnut. Lloyd Presbyterian Church asked if the church could use our lot on Sundays and we said yes. The gravel strip by the fence can be used for parking. The field has large gates to use for overflow parking for special events. Backspace renovation will be discussed on Thursday. We have an anonymous donor who is interested in helping to fund that this summer.
7. Other Business – 6:40-6:45PM – Heather spoke with Charles Cleveland and he is excited to start committee meetings. Heather will send out a list of those already on committees so others can choose a committee on which to serve.

Joan Marie Belnap reports that all board members have agreed to support the annual campaign. Charles Cleveland helped Joan Marie with this. Community Creates – reminder on the format of the evening. It’s important to invite community members who would love to see our school and also people who would like to buy beautiful art. This year Artist Fusion will include the donors from Capital Campaign

8. Adjournment – 6:45PM. Heather Smith adjourns the meeting.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

○      Next Meetings: April 12, May 10

○      Artist Fusion and Capital Campaign Celebration Friday, April 22

○      Community Creates! Saturday May 7