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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes – September 8, 2015

BOD Meeting Minutes – September 8, 2015

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday September 8th, 2015

In Attendance: Robin Hollis, Leigh Atkins, Kevin Nunley, Michelle Lawrence, Eric Prior, Lindsay Deibler, Laura Luykx, Amy Lanning, Charles Cleveland, Paige Raper, Heather Smith, Renee Semones, Brittany Emery, Chad Cleveland, Emily Ball

AGENDA

  1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45PM – Meeting called to order by Heather Smith at 5:48
  2. New Parent Input – 5:45-5:50PM – Amy Lanning’s daughter is in Mrs. Ravestein’s class. She’s had a great time and is excited every day to come back to school. She is singing songs from class and making books. Amy said morning drop-off is very smooth. Chad Cleveland’s son is enjoying class. He loves art and dance classes. Emily Ball reports that traffic was intimidating on the first day but parents are well prepared. She loved Friday Sing and was glad we did it early in the year. The class Shutterfly accounts are very helpful. Parent Council is very organized and it is easy to volunteer from home or at school. Her child didn’t have a lunch one day. Mrs. Hollis will check in with the teachers about what went wrong with ordering pizza. Emily has a question about parents taking pictures that include her child on her Facebook. She would like to see a policy written that states that people shouldn’t include other people’s children on social media. Is the school liable if a volunteer takes a photo and puts it on her personal Facebook account? Renee Semones suggests a blurb in Thursday Notes. Chad Cleveland says we could suggest using Shutterfly only for photo sharing. Policing this is the difficult part. Robin Hollis says this is part of the problematic things with middle school film projects and distributing the film once it’s finished. Charles Cleveland would like to have the conversation when Doug Punger is present as he can offer some more insight on the legal aspect of this. Chad Cleveland asks about the kind of training teachers get on how to interact with volunteers. Mrs. Hollis describes the orientation new teachers receive before they begin at ABS.
  3. Approval of August 2015 Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:50-5:52PM – Motion to approve made by Eric Prior, Leigh Atkins seconds the motion, all are in favor with no opposed – Motion passes and the August 2015 minutes are approved.
  4. Review of August Financials (Renee) – 5:52-6:00PM – There is a year-to-date surplus of $19,953. We are in the second month and revenues are at 83% to be collected. Books and supplies are spent quicker at the beginning of the year but almost everything else is on a monthly basis. To balance our budget, we put a surplus in operating reserve. The current surplus for operating reserve is $246,000. We budgeted for a $5000 credit because we don’t use state internet connection. We may get the school on NCREN once our Time Warner contract ends but this is not for several years.
  5. New Board Members ACTION REQUIRED – 6:00-6:05PM There is one new board member to vote on (nominated by Amy Lanning). Kelly Carswell has sales and marketing experience for RG Barry. She would be another non-parent member and she is very excited about the possibility. She is involved in Junior League. Heather Smith makes the motion to have Kelly Carswell join the board, Eric Prior seconds. All are in favor with no one opposed so the motion passes. Three more people are interested in potentially joining the board. Leigh Atkins asks if we want more names. Yes, we can have up to 24 members. We specifically need people with buildings and grounds and technology experience.
  6. Principal’s Report (Robin) – 6:05-6:45PM – The 20th day of school is Sept 16th. The state counts the average enrollment for the first 20 days to determine our amount per pupil. The state hasn’t approved a budget yet so we don’t know that dollar amount. Budget is made based on enrollment of 511 and we currently have 516 students. Testing is coming up Beginning of Grade (BOG) – 3rd graders take this reading test tomorrow. This is one of the tests they can pass to be promoted from third grade. Students in grades K-3 take mClass tests during a 14-day testing window. MAP testing will begin for 3-8th graders later this month. All of this information is provided to parents with results as we receive them.

Attendance and tardies policy. This is the start of a discussion. WSFCS counts 5 unexcused tardies as an unexcused absence. We currently have 10 unexcused equaling an absence. It takes 10 absences before the truancy officer gets involved to help with this problem. That means 100 tardies. The year is only 180 days long. We have used US Mail to inform parents of attendance problems in the past and we are using e-mail this year. For many parents, once they attend a meeting about attendance, the problem is fixed. Robin Hollis will get something together for the board to consider. A positive would be that we’d be in sync with WSFCS. Chad Cleveland asks how many students this pertains to at ABS. In terms of a chronic problem, it’s only a handful. Mrs. Hollis can get a number and bring it with the written policy draft next month. Leigh Atkins asks if it is mandatory to report to the truancy officer. Mrs. Hollis thinks if the policy is in place, we need to follow it for everyone. Charles Cleveland asks if we use an automated call system. We don’t. We don’t have a system and there is a cost for that.

Foreign Language – We would like it to be a cultural study including art, music, food, etc. Heather Smith suggests the Triad German Club is a resource.

Math teacher – Mrs. Lewis is under contract with Guilford until September 11th. We’re also looking for a part-time math teacher to help with the four different math courses for the 100 7th and 8th grade students. Math I is typically a 9th grade course but many of our students take it as an advanced math option.

Mrs. Ravestein just had her baby boy. She will be out on maternity leave for 10 weeks.

The Winston Cup Museum had a brick thrower and that person also exposed himself to a female worker there. The man has walked through our campus. Captain James with the Winston-Salem Police Dept. reminded us that our trespassing signs mean we could call the police if anyone is on campus and they would respond.

Air Quality – We did some proactive air quality testing this semester. This is additional testing above what we’re required to do. Our results were fine and we have the reports to show to anyone with concerns.

Renee Semones helped Mrs. Hollis discuss the possibility of a blinking light and additional signage. She will keep the board informed of the next steps.

  1. Other Business – 6:45-6:50PM – There is new graffiti on the back of the 7th Street building (near the railroad tracks). Lindsay Deibler suggests covering it with artwork. There is a concern that the artwork would then be “tagged” with graffiti.
  2. Adjournment – 6:50PM – Meeting was adjourned at 6:43.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

○      The NEXT Board Meeting – Tuesday October 13th