Southside Family Charter School Board Meeting

Saturday, October 8, 2011

9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

at Southside Family Charter School
 

Present: Heidi Batz-Rogers, Emily Robertson, Ben Kressel, Pete Oppenheim, Beth Hart, Brian Reichert, Dana Neuhauser, Scott Heard, Hilary Smith, Amber Augustin

Guests: Eliza Goodwin, Erin Wisness, Tania Montgomery
 

Agenda

I. Call to order – Beth Hart

II. Introductions of all present.

 

III. Review & Approve Agenda Modify “Planning” section to 10 minutes. Tania adds a policy update for 1 minute. Ben moves to approve the agenda, Pete seconds. Revised agenda is approved.

 

IV. Review & Approve Minutes of Last Meeting Motion to approve the minutes of last meeting by Scott, second by Pete. The minutes of last meeting are approved.

 

V. Election of Board Officers Motion to reelect the slate of current officers by Heidi, second by Ben. Current officers are reelected; Beth Hart as Chair, Dana Neuhauser as Vice Chair, and Scott Heard as Treasurer.

 

VI. Director’s Report Handouts: Director’s Report, The Open Meeting Law, Charter School Board Members. Update about curriculum/program, communications and outreach, fiscal management and fundraising, board development and support, staff development and management, and family and community involvement. Update about Open Meeting Law. Dana, Beth, and Eliza will collaborate on creating a document about “board basics,” expectations, definitions, committees, committee membership and meeting times, etc.

 

VII. Open Forum for Community Input Molly McGraw Healy, VOA Charter School liaison, introduces herself and explains her role.

 

VIII. Board Committee Reports

a. Finance -- Scott August, September, 2011 Financial Reports Handouts: Financial Report to the School Board, September 2011; Balance Sheet Through September 2011; Income Statement Through September 2011; FY2012 Cashflow Schedule Finance committee meets monthly on the Wednesday before the Board meeting at 8:00

a.m. and are open to any interested parties. To compensate for increased state holdback, we will be approaching the bank to increase our line of credit to about $150,000. We expect the holdback amount in July of 2012. Changes from the current adopted budget include salary and benefit increases and a fund balance from last year that was higher than expected. A revised budget reflecting these and other changes will be available at November’s board meeting for discussion and approval. Longer-term planning is needed to determine the budget for the next few years so that we do not continue to operate at a deficit. Options include fundraising and program changes. A committee may be formed to help address this problem. Finance committee will discuss how to form this committee at their next meeting. Motion to accept a $6,000 unrestricted contribution from the Weck Charitable Trust by Ben, second by Pete. The gift is accepted.

b. Planning -- Dana Accountability Report Handout: 2010-2011 Annual Accountability Report, September 27, 2011 by Lange Research and Evaluation Update about the Accountability Report for the 2010-2011 school year. The next step for the Planning Committee is planning for next steps, primarily aligning VOA’s expectations with Southside’s programming. The next Planning Committee meeting is November 2.

c. Policies – Tania The Policy Committee is active and engaged and the board can expect lots of policy updates this year.

 

IX. Other Committee Reports

a. Development -- Eliza Update We are at 45% of our goal for institutional giving, though we hope to exceed our goal of $30,000. Institutional giving has become more challenging in the last few years. We are at 13% of our individual giving goal, though most of fundraising happens over the winter months. $15,000 of that amount was a withdrawal from our endowment. Eliza asks if the Board could help focus our efforts on family giving. Heidi will head up a group interested in focusing on family giving; she will email the school community and interested parties can respond to that. They will meet and report back to the board. Amber suggests having the board included in the “family” group as an audience to ask from. General consensus is to have this committee be a school rather than board committee.

 

X. New Topics

a. Annual conflict of interest statement -- Beth Handout: MSBA/MASA Model Policy 210.1 Conflict of Interest – Charter School Board Members. Board members must sign and turn in the Conflict of Interest form. Contact Eliza with questions.

b. Assurance of compliance – Eliza Handout: FY 2012 Application for Special Education Funds Statement of Assurances. Motion to accept the 2012 Application for Special Education Funds Statement of Assurances by Heidi, second by Ben. The application is approved by all present.

c. VOA agreement to comply – Eliza Board members have signed a compliance agreement and returned it to Eliza.

d. Special Education Monitoring – Eliza Our special education program is being reviewed this year. The board will be updated as reports become available.

 

XI. Continuing Topics

a. AYP Process – Tania We did not make AYP. We are in “supplement educational services (SES)” stage which means we are required to put aside a portion of funding to address the reasons we did not meet AYP (math scores); unclear if this money goes to the program or is for parents to find supplemental services. Tania will write a new school plan and update parents about our AYP status per law. The state is applying for a waiver for AYP but that has not been granted at this time. Ben recommends strengthening volunteer outreach for the math program. Heidi recommends finding out if we can use some of the SES funds to replace Brendan, and if we can become an approved SES provider.

 

XII. Discussion of Board Meeting

a. To what degree do you agree with the following statement: “The issues we covered today were important to our mission?”

b. What were the most valuable contributions we made to the good of SFCS today? Beth and Pete are happy about the family fundraising efforts.

Hilary appreciates that we are officially addressing the achievement gap. Ben appreciates enthusiastic new board members. Hilary also appreciates discussion of AYP within a broader context. Heidi celebrates that the school is still alive and well and inspiring others to be teachers.

 

XIII. Adjourn. Motion to adjourn by Pete, second by Dana. Meeting is adjourned at 11:00 a.m.