The Anchor School
Minutes
Board of Directors Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday January 28, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Location
In-person for board members
The Anchor School
2460 Wesley Chapel Road
Decatur, GA 30035
Directors Present
A. Pressey, J. Burton (remote), J. Jordan, J. Whittington, K. James (remote), K. Sargeant, N. LeBlanc, S. Stewart, T. Winston, V. Thompson
Directors Absent
C. Humphrey, E. Desprez Isbell, S. Kollu
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
J. Jordan
Ex Officio Members Present
J. Pinto Taylor
Non Voting Members Present
J. Pinto Taylor
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
N. LeBlanc called a meeting of the board of directors of The Anchor School to order on Wednesday Jan 28, 2026 at 7:14 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
S. Stewart made a motion to approve the minutes from Board of Directors Meeting on 11-19-25.
N. LeBlanc seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Executive Director Report
A.
Executive Director Report
J. Jordan arrived at 7:21 PM.
III. Academic Achievement
A.
Academic Dashboard Review
Dr. Pinto Taylor walked the board through the academic dashboard:
- YoY MAP scores are increasing overall and comparable to national grade scores
- Dr. Pinto Taylor plans to meet with math/reading teachers to understand any areas of opportunities to improve scores
- Milestone scores comparing TAS against local schools are prepared at the end of the year
B.
Item for Information: Proposed SY262-27 School Calendar
- TAS' tentative SY26-27 fall break matches most Atlanta Metro schools, but not DeKalb County's
Action Items
- Dr. Pinto Taylor to update TAS proposed calendar to match the fall break of DeKalb County's school calendar
- V. Thompson to connect Dr. Pinto Taylor with Carla Parker
C.
Item for Information: Grade Acceleration Policy & Procedure
- The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed review process for a child to be placed in a grade higher than their age range typically permits. The procedure details a team-based approach (teachers, administrators, and families) to decide if a pupil's grade should be accelerated.
- Process derived from previous TAS case accelerating a pupil.
- TAS is exploring accelerating a pupil who needs exposure to advanced subject material to one grade higher on an individual class basis (not a full grade acceleration).
- 12 week into the school year is the deadline to allow parents 2 weeks to react to the 10-week report card.
Action Items
- Dr. Pinto Taylor to improve formatting to demonstrate more visual hierarchy and highlight the difference between middle and high school grade v. subject acceleration policy within the document.
IV. Community Engagement & Advancement (Ad-hoc)
A.
Committee Updates
- PTO membership rate suggestions have been proposed ahead of first official meeting February 19th
- J. Jordan suggested long-term vision: Create TAS Foundation to raise money and PTO be separate from that. Total 3 separate non-profit entities: school, foundation, and PTO.
- Dr. Pinto Taylor to audit the feedback from families about TAS communication approaches
- Phone-a-thon details pending
- Call to build board pipeline. Focus on prospects with finance, education, and governance.
Action Items
- J. Burton to create a designated Fundraising Lead position with high-level details of roles/responsibilities.
- Share updated by-laws for vote in February's General Board Meeting
- Governance Committee to review communications audit details for updates in upcoming committee meeting on February 4.
- Each board member to add 2-3 people to prospect tracker
V. Finance
A.
November & December 2025 Financial Summary
- T. Winston led walk-thru of November, December financial performance
- EdTech oversight on rent details caused misnomer in December (rather than in July where expected).
- Budgeting is accounting for conservative enrollment predictions to minimize forecasting mistakes.
- Dr. Pinto Taylor walked through EBITDA slide details
B.
Facility Team Updates
[refer to discussion in Executive Director Report agenda]
C.
Item for Action: Line of Credit
- Apply for line of credit to cover cash on hand shortfall without impacting any other fiscal aspects.
- Vote to proceed with line of credit solution (vote to approve loan amount to follow)
- J. Jordan suggests exploring additional line of credit options beyond bank loan
T. Winston made a motion to pursue applying for the line of credit.
A. Pressey seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
D.
Item for Action: FY27 Budget Calendar
- This vote is to approve the calendar notifying the public of what's happening when as it related to the budget.
- Budget approval and website upload deadline is June 30th
N. LeBlanc made a motion to approve the budget calendar given condition (see Discussion).
T. Winston seconded the motion.
Update proposed budget calendar with the change that the draft will be published on April 17th
VI. Governance
A.
Item for Action: AI Policy
N. LeBlanc made a motion to adopt the AI policy for TAS.
S. Stewart seconded the motion.
update the opening statement to include "Artificial Intelligence"
B.
SCSC Monitoring Results
- CPF results are in the green
VII. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 9:06 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
N. LeBlanc
Dr. Pinto Taylor