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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes – April 13, 2015

BOD Meeting Minutes – April 13, 2015

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday, April 13th, 2015

 

In Attendance: Robin Hollis, Heather Smith, Amy Lanning, Bill Wright, Doug Punger, Paige Raper, Margaret Taylor, Alex Ewing, Laura Luykx, Kevin Nunley

AGENDA

  1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45PM – Heather Smith calls the meeting to order at 5:50.
  2. Approval of March 2015 Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:45-5:47PM – Doug Punger makes the motion to approve the March minutes, Amy Lanning seconds, all are in favor and no opposed. March minutes are approved.
  3. Review of YTD financial statements (Heather/Eric for Renee) – 5:47-5:55PM – The financial statements were sent via e-mail prior to the meeting. We are through three quarters of the year and everything is on track. There are no questions from board members.
  4. Charter Approval (Robin) – 5:55-6:05PM – We knew that our charter was renewed for ten years but we have now received the paperwork. The board chair (Heather Smith) has signed it and now it will go back to the state for the state board chair to sign.
  5. Employee Retirement and Health Coverage (Heather) ACTION REQUIRED – 6:05-6:15PM – When we received our original charter, the board decided to opt in to state health and retirement. Now that we are renewing the charter, the board must to decide again to opt in for employee health and retirement programs or not. It has always been helpful in recruiting quality teachers but it is expensive. Mrs. Hollis feels that this is very important but the board must decide. Heather Smith reminds everyone that it is in the budget and comes to about $445,000. Heather Smith makes the motion that we opt in. Doug Punger and Alex Ewing second the motion. Doug Punger says it is a successful program. All are in favor, no opposed. The motion passes.
  6. Annual Giving (Joan Marie) – 6:15-6:20PM Hollis spoke with Joan Marie Belnap who feels confident that we would be at 100% participation. Our goal is 100% participation on parent and board. Shannon Wright organized this a few years back and it runs very well. We communicate with all families to see if they have questions without asking individuals for money. Heather Smith says it shows that parents are invested. Mrs. Hollis will send an e-mail about the launch of the campaign so even if you’re not a parent, you have a chance to participate.
  7. Board meeting calendar change (Robin) 6:20-6:25PM –Mrs. Hollis proposes cancelling the July board meeting. There is typically low attendance at this meeting. That would leave 11 meetings per year, which is well above the required 8 meetings. July is the start of our fiscal year but the budget is usually approved in May. Margaret Taylor makes a motion to eliminate the July meeting. Doug Punger seconds, all are in favor and no opposed. The motion passes.
  8. Principal’s Report – We gave our annual parent satisfaction survey. Out of 510 students, we had about 50 responses. The last question asks if they are satisfied overall and 98% of the families are satisfied. There were some comments about volunteering that will be brought to parent council. The state does not allow us to have a consequence for families who do not volunteer. We read all the comments. Mrs. Hollis will share some of the comments about leadership. The board should know about them but because they sometimes contain names of specific people, we want to keep them confidential. Heather Smith mentions that some families ranked our downtown location as the number 1 reason they attend. Staffing and hiring – Health issues for teachers. A kindergarten teacher and middle school Language Arts teacher are out on medical leave. We have a fourth grade teacher going out to have a baby soon. Fortunately, we have several people who have worked here before or have subbed here before and have been able to step in and help in those situations. We have some openings for next year – 5th grade, middle school language arts and social studies, 1st We have a lot of resumes in that look promising. If you would like to take invitations to Community Creates, please take them and distribute if you’d like.
  9. Other Business – 6:25-6:30PM – Charles will be bringing a slate of new board members for consideration to the next meeting. Kevin Nunley reports on the Buildings and Grounds committee. The group did a walk-through on the property next door and may consider leasing the back part of that property. This might provide some more parking. There is a lot of surface parking but it is not enough at dismissal or during special school events. There was another meeting about some development on the large field near the gravel lot and behind Mudpies. That development may impact some of our drive space off Chestnut Street. There are 122 units proposed for this space. Margaret Taylor asks about the Goler parking lot as a cooperative arrangement to share parking. Robin Hollis mentions that she asked the developers if they would be asking for a curb cut on MLK. In the past there have been challenges with that being a state road. Heather Smith asks if this development project will really happen this time because it has been mentioned before. This seems to be the closest they have been to fruition. Losing the gravel lot that we now use was the impetus for talking about the land next door. There would not be an entry from MLK and you would enter and exit between the buildings. There will be more negotiation with the neighbor next door before anything is ready to bring before the board. Playground covering: The committee might need to go and look at some other coverings. Perhaps the K-4 building dismisses from the playground under shade sail-type structures and the 7th Street students dismiss from the courtyard. Amy Lanning asks if there is an architect on the proposed board member list and there is. This would help with some of these initiatives. Margaret Taylor thinks the board is too small. Paige Raper and Robin Hollis went to charter school leadership conference and there was discussion about school boards. Those leading that training felt that the optimal number for a board was 9 people. Renovations to performance space in MLK, theater space, and traffic flow, etc. would all benefit from an architect board member. Mrs. Hollis thinks we may need an update from the other working group. We have a budget meeting on the calendar and need to start work on administrator evaluations.
  10. Adjournment – 6:30PM – We stand adjourned at 6:27.

 

 

Looking Ahead:

 

●      IMPORTANT DATES … MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

○      Next Board Meeting – Tuesday May 12th

○      Community Creates – Saturday May 2nd

 

 

Parent Council Report:

 

Annual Giving letters will be sent to parents on April 16. Our reps are having training on Monday and Tuesday of next week. They will then begin calling their class parents to encourage 100% participation.

 

We have begun planning for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8).

 

Parent Council Board Elections will be held May 8.