The Anchor School
Minutes
Board of Directors Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday January 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Location
https://meet.google.com/dnn-vbfr-vvh
Directors Present
A. Pressey, C. Humphrey (remote), E. Desprez Isbell (remote), J. Burton (remote), J. Whittington (remote), N. LeBlanc (remote), S. Birch (remote), S. Kollu (remote), V. Thompson (remote)
Directors Absent
None
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
A. Pressey
Ex Officio Members Present
J. Pinto Taylor (remote)
Non Voting Members Present
J. Pinto Taylor (remote)
Guests Present
M. Felts (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
D.
Public Comment
II. Executive Director Report
A.
Executive Director Report
- Fire drill will be completed next week rather than this week (due to snow days).
III. Academic Achievement
A.
Academic Dashboard Review
- January update: 113 applications
- MAP mid-year data is available on the Academic Dashboard
- Dr. Pinto Taylor shared multiple achievement and growth graphs for MAP Reading data.
- MAP math was postponed from this week to next week based on winter weather cancellations.
IV. Community Engagement Adhoc
A.
Community Engagement Updates
- PTO was officially launched in Nov 2024.
- As of Jan 14, there are 15 TAS parents interested in being in the PTO.
- 6 want to be in the Operations Committee (Focuses on engaging the TAS village in volunteer activities and adding operational capacity to TAS.)
- 5 want to be in the Communications and Outreach Committee (Supports enhancing communication with current families, staff, and leadership, and recruitment of prospective families.)
- 4 want to be in the Sponsorship Committee (Focuses on securing sponsorships/in-kind donations for upcoming TAS events like the ball and teacher appreciation day with the goal of become the fundraising committee next school year)
V. Finance
A.
Vote: Proposed Budget Calendar
TAS must develop and approve a budget for each fiscal year. The proposed budget calendar and milestones will provide direction to the school level team on expectations and transparency to our stakeholders on the budget process. The Finance Committee will work with the school team, CFO, and EdTec during monthly committee meetings to ensure milestones are achieved.
- Board reviewed the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget calendar
Action Item: Add times to May 28 and June 11 and add items to Board on Track with calendar invites sent to the board.
- Conditional vote with a need to add the specific time to the May 28 and June 11
- Head of School and Board mini-sessions would be optional for full board members, board members could also provide input during the Finance Committee meetings
B.
December Financials
- CSGF grant drives $102K projected operating income increase
- Ended Dec with $72K; projected to end FY25 with $390K, or 38 DCOH
- Accomplishments:
- Received $13K encumbrance payment Charter School Program (CSP)
- Title budgets are being drawn down monthly, with next reimbursement, $19,500 expected
- CSGF
- Next Step:
- Monitor spending and intramonth cash flow
- Focus on CSP grant drawdowns
- Goals:
- Review MYP and begin FY26 budget planning
- Review MYP and begin FY26 budget planning
C.
Mid-Year Financial Review
Finance Committee will bring this to the next board meeting.
VI. Governance
A.
Item for Action: Field Trip Excursion Policy
B.
Item for Action: Scholar Fees, Fines, & Charges Policy
Action Item: Update HoS to read "Head of School" on first mention
C.
Item for Action: Volunteer Policy
Action Items:
- In the "Additional Volunteer Requirements" add the word "All" before "Volunteers", and add the requirement to be annually
- Look into the difference between background check and criminal history check.
D.
Item for Action: Work from Home Policy (Eligible TAS Directors)
E.
Item for Action: TAS Student Enrollment & Lottery Policies
Removed preference for board of director's children's enrollment, 3 years in length, not in compliance with the CSGF Grant
F.
Item for Action: TAS High School Credit Earning Requirement Policy
G.
Item for Action: TAS Course Acceleration Policy
Action Item: Update the HOPE GPA section to read "may not" instead of "will not" if allowable under the HOPE Scholarship policies
H.
Item for Action: TAS High School Course Commitment Date Policy
Action Item: Update numerical or spelled out 15
I.
Item for Action: Conflict of Interest Policy
J.
Facilities Updates
This item was covered through the Executive Director Report at the start of the meeting.
K.
SCSC Monitoring Results
This item was covered through the Executive Director Report at the start of the meeting.
No Public Comment