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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes – November 11th, 2014

BOD Meeting Minutes – November 11th, 2014

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday November 11th, 2014.

In Attendance: Margaret Taylor, Joan Marie Belnap, Amy Lanning, Robin Hollis, Paige Raper, Renee Semones, Eric Prior, Heather Smith, Laura Luykx, Leigh Atkins, Chad Cleveland, Christine England, Charles Cleveland, Bill Wright, Doug Punger, Michelle Lawrence

  1. Eric Prior called the meeting to order at 5:48. Thank you to everyone for being here.
  2. Approval of October 2014 Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:45-5:47PM – Chad Cleveland makes a motion to approve the minutes. Laura Luykx seconds the motion, all are in favor, and Leigh abstains because she was not at the last meeting. The motion passes.
  3. Principal’s Report (Robin) – 5:47-6:10PM –

Principal’s Report November 2014 Board Meeting

Student Achievement

Charters Dominate the Top 20…

SchoolDigger.com has released the test score rankings of 139 school districts in NC. Of the top twenty school districts in the state, charters schools claimed fourteen top spots.

  1. Gray Stone Day
  1. Mountain Island Charter
  1. Cape Fear Center for Inquiry
  1. Two Rivers Community
  1. Charter Day School
  1. Central Park School for Child
  1. Francine Delany New School
  1. Vance Charter School
  1. The Arts Based School
  1. Mountain Discovery Charter
  1. Millennium Charter Academy
  1. Neuse Charter School
  1. Chatham Charter School
  1. The Academy of Moore County

 

The Arts Based School is ranked 11 out of all school districts in the state based on test scores!

Visit SchoolDigger.com for a complete list of the NC District ranking data.

Charter Renewal

The Arts Based School applied for the charter renewal last December. The Charter School Advisory Board will be meeting November 13 to review all charter renewals and make recommendations to the State Board for the December meeting. The Charter School office notes no compliance issues. The Division of School Business found no financial concerns. The full renewal report packet is attached to this email and has been placed in the board book.

Upcoming Events:

5th Dancing Classroom Exhibition Wed, November 12, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

ABS Board Meeting Tue, December 9, 5:45pm – 7:45pm

ABS Holiday Party Sat, December 13, 6pm – 9pm

3rd Fragakis-Leonardo’s Journey Tue, December 16, 12:15pm – 12:45pm

3rd Campbell-Leonardo’s Journey Wed, December 17, 12:15pm – 12:45pm

3rd Christian – Leonardo’s Journey Thu, December 18, 12:15pm – 12:45pm

Leigh Atkins asks if there are plans to announce the ranking on test scores outside of the school. Mrs. Hollis mentioned that it will be mentioned in the new quarterly newsletter that goes out to families and community members. Eric Prior asks if that is all public schools. Robin says yes, remember that it is school districts. We are considered a school district. Chad Cleveland asks if the newsletter will go to media as well. Mrs. Hollis says there will be a press release for the test scores. Chad asks if there should be a story idea before the press release. Eric asks if anyone has any contacts that may help with that. Chad asks if there is a statewide story vs. a local story. Heather may have a contact at W-S Monthly. Robin says this is a story to highlight. We just want to make sure the story is the one to highlight.

  1. Review of October Financials (Renee) – 6:10-615PM – The report was included with agenda materials. Fourth month into the school year and there is a deficit due to timing. We are doing better than last year on collecting student activity fees. There are no red flags to bring to anyone’s attention on revenue. This reflects the amended budget that was passed last month. Robin points out some areas in red (salary arts instruction should be curriculum) that will be reclassified by Acadia.
  2. Review of lottery priority for board members – ACTION REQUIRED – 6:15-6:30PM – Last month we talked about this being a way to attract new young board members. Heather Smith put together a proposal. Eric asks for discussion. Doug Punger asks to add the statute instead of the bill. Margaret Taylor asks if our definition of children is the same as the one used by the state. Heather suggests we may simply say that board member children would have the same priority as siblings. Chad asks if this would be an addition to the board bylaws. Leigh asks a question about former board members who have completed a term. In a few years, that could become a lot of people. Heather reminds that there is a cap (15%) that we couldn’t go over. Leigh is uncomfortable with it because she thinks it could become a lot of people. Margaret thinks the board could revisit if this became a problem. Eric asks Leigh if her concern is about the numbers. Leigh says she thinks it may become cumbersome to keep track of over time. Heather imagines a person who has been recruited to the board based on skill sets that are needed, has worked hard on a large project, and then rolls off and doesn’t have priority. Amy Lanning says she gets asked a lot about whether or not her young children would have priority. Robin reminds everyone that we are looking at a wide demographic for the board. Not everyone would be at the same stage of life. Robin thinks we may have way more interest for the spots we have if this becomes a policy. Amy asks about the 30% limit of board members being parents. Yes, this is a rule. Chad makes a motion to pass the policy, Amy seconds the motion, and Leigh Atkins states that we will need to be clear about the nomination process and decision-making. Robin says we have never denied a nominated member. Heather adds that it is because the people who are nominated are already connected to a board member. Margaret says we do need to look for diversity. Eric clarifies that the motion on the table is to approve with the adjustment to pursuant language and tightening up the nominating process. That would not be part of the policy. Robin says we start board year in July and the lottery is already done. Margaret says this addresses the concern. We want good board members. This helps avoid people coming on the board simply to get in. All are in favor. None opposed, and motion passes unanimously.
  3. Organizational Development Strategy from Strategic Plan (Charles) – 6:30-6:45PM – Charles Cleveland provided a brief outline on the strategic plan including purpose, vision, strategies, and targets. The board is mostly responsible for financial security, buildings and grounds, organizational efficiency. The board plays a role in all strategies but others may fall more on administration and staff. We have discussed financial security and organizational efficiency. Charles provided notes on areas of opportunities under organizational efficiency. With regard to Disseminating Arts Based Curriculum – How might we share and disseminate curriculum to other schools and individuals? Charles asks what’s next? Eric asks about marketing. If we’re talking about trusted partnerships and community relationships, we may need to focus on that. Chad asks if we need to rank these? Charles says yes and asks if we need more time to think about this. We could discuss at the next meeting? Annual retreat? Eric says we would want to have this narrowed down so the discussion could be deeper at the retreat. Charles says it would be great to go into the retreat ready for more decisions. Eric asks if anyone has a top two that they would like to recommend. Chad says Board Development and Relationships. Charles asks if there is anything we can shelve? Heather Smith said disseminating the curriculum is at the bottom for her. Charles asks about staff development? Robin feels that we do a good job of that already. She wants to add that three schools have approached us asking for materials, information, etc. We are open to giving the “how” of what we do. Not necessarily the “what”. It would be nice at some point to get some clear policy on this. Chad thinks we need someone on the board with experience packaging that sort of thing. Chad also thinks we need someone on the board with technology expertise. That’s why he ranks board development so high. Not because the others aren’t important but because with board development, the others may be easier. Doug reminds us that educators don’t focus on copyright. If curriculum isn’t copyrighted, it could be considered public domain. Doug says maybe we can’t do this because we are a non-profit organization but it could be a price to cover costs. Robin says rather than “selling” curriculum it may be a situation where people pay to come in and participate in workshops and an experience. Eric clarifies that disseminating the curriculum is still on the list maybe just not at the top. Michelle Lawrence asks is diversity applies to gender. Robin says we look for the best candidate. It is easier to get male candidates at the middle school level. Chad wants to clarify that financial development is always a priority. Margaret adds that partnerships and relationships would likely help with financial development. Doug asks about another leader from School of the Arts since Alex has rolled off. Robin reminds us that we have talked about an advisory council. This may work for that. Charles will look at the top three and put something together for next time. Eric thanks Charles for leading this discussion. Eric would like to have something more formal going into board retreat in January.
  4. Other Business – 6:45-6:50PM – Robin asks if we’re looking to fill board seats before July. Eric says we should start the process of filling one or two more board seats. Margaret asks what the process is like. Eric says a need may be identified and names are given to Robin and Eric. Sometimes the nominating member will begin discussion with nominees and other times the board chair may begin contact. Doug says there are sometimes board nominating committees. Chad says we can have up to 30 members but we don’t have to have that many. Eric says we would be looking to fill skill sets and build diversity vs. just numbers. Charles says maybe we’ve been less effective with onboarding. Eric says this is more important now because we’ve gotten bigger. Eric says maybe this should be added under board development. Eric is still asking for names in the brainstorming stage. Christine England says we could bring parents in on committees even if they are not board members. Eric says there are a lot of skill sets in our parent community.
  5. Charles thanks ABS for being at the Smart Start morning event.
  6. Adjournment – 6:50PM – Eric adjourns the meeting at 6:53.