Voices for International Business and Education
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday September 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM
Location
International High School of New Orleans Community Room 727 Carondelet St. New Orleans, LA 70130
Voices for International Business and Education http://public.boardontrack.com/VIBE_1
Directors Present
C. Allen, H. Blumenthal, J. Carter, K. Katner, M. Roney, R. Keller, S. Retzlaff, S. Thomas
Directors Absent
C. Webb
Ex Officio Members Present
L. Lopez
Non Voting Members Present
L. Lopez
Guests Present
A. Berger, D. Deno, L. Crowe, R. McGee, T. McGregor
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C. Allen called a meeting of the board of directors of Voices for International Business and Education to order on Wednesday Sep 21, 2016 at 6:06 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes from August, 19 2015
S. Retzlaff made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 08-19-15 Board Meeting on 08-19-15.
C. Allen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
D.
Approve minutes from the August 17, 2016
S. Retzlaff made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 08-17-16 Board Meeting on 08-17-16.
R. Keller seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
E.
Report of the Chair
- Great news about the beginning of the school from different sources
- Jamba Juice contest
- A reminder to Board members to contribute with their dues. Options have been discussed whether board members want to wait for the GiveNola campaign or do it in conjunction to their taxes filing. Please talk to D. Deno about it.
- We will be talking about the HoS evaluation process
- Board members are asked to submit their goals for each committee in alignment with the Strategic planning. These are due by the October BOD meeting.
- Student invited - G. Clark is our High School columnist for the Times Picayune/Nola.com. Her first column was about the beginning of the year and the IB learner profile for that month. So far she has a second column published. This time she wrote about the culture club at school.
- Board members interested in attending to the charter school conference, please contact L. Lopez or S.Wilson to get registered for the event.
F.
Head of School Report
- Two head reports have come out so far for this
- Jamba Juice & Donors choose are partnering up with IHSNO to raise funds for the arts department the competition will only last a week ending on 9/23
- Enrollment. Through the OneApp process we are continuing to register new students. We are currently having late-registration orientation on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our goal for 10/9 is to have 580 students assigned to our school. We are currently not there as of today, and look forward to meet our goals. Should our budget need adjustment, that will be reflected in the October report and the board meeting of that month.
- Academics. We assessed students at the beginning of the year to identify where they were in their academic level in order to know the needs that need to be met in order for students to be successful through the IB framework. We want to make sure students that need enrichment to meet their academic goals, receive that support.
- Professional Development. Staff and faculty had two weeks of professional development at the beginning of the school year in order to be ready for our students. There will be an opportunity for staff and faculty to visit and observe how other schools go about their craft. The observation day will end with a social at Rock n' Bowl
II. Committee Reports
A.
Finance
- Next Finance and Academics meeting has been moved to Tuesday, October 18th at 5:30. D. Deno will have a brief training about the AFR.
- The report reflects that we are 45000 profit, as we are not a business for profit, that number will change throught the year.
- The report for July and August do not reflect an expected trend. Since we are still at the beginning of the year, the amounts are a reflection of the timing of the money coming in.
C. Allen made a motion to Approve the August Financials.
M. Roney seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Governance
- Te Governance meeting has been moved to October 12th at 6:00
- Blair Schilling has been recommended to be part of the board. The governance committee has already voted to welcome her in the Board.
R. Keller made a motion to To accept Blair Schilling to become a board member.
C. Allen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Academic
- The committee had an overview of the beginning of the school year.
- Culture highlighted that we are focusing on the positive and moving away from the punitive making use of restorative practices. We are working on reducing suspension rates. The implementation of advisories are positively impacting students behavior.
- There are challenges on the day to day operations due to the legal process that we are undergoing. What used to be a candid conversation in the past, is now being documented.
- We are now investing more time in documenting the conversations that are being held for the purpose of feedback to teachers and what is going on in the classroom. Should we need to provide documentation to support a renewal or non-renewal decision at the end of the year, we want to make sure we have supporting information. This dynamic has impacted the way we do things internally
- Administration is recognizing the challenge of the decline in scores and have established a plan of action to improve that situation.
D.
Facilities
- The facilities committee didn't have enough quorum to have a meeting, but a report was submitted.
- The list of projects requiring attention have shorten from previous months.
- An urban garden is on the works to be built in a section of the parking area sponsored by the DDD. The project will not have any cost for us and parking will be provided for our staff to make up for the space used for this project. There will be three different areas, one for families, a transitioning area semi-covered and a third part designed for activities such as sports. This will take place in 2017.
- There are projects to bring the building up to code
- A conversation will take place with
- An opportunity will be created for students to contribute with ideas of what can be done with the building.
- Next meeting will take place in November 1st.
III. Recommence General Board Meeting
A.
Report of Executive Committee
- S. Wilson was tasked with putting together his goals for the year. He came up with four overarching goals, listing outputs measurements and the take away. Manage, develop and grow staff, future planning and building for academic growth, organizational growth, financial growth, and organizational sustainability, Oversee organizational efficiency and effectiveness to comply with state, federal and local educational mandates and to ensure growth of the International Baccalaureate Programme, and academic achievement of all students
- There will be evaluations through the school year to show the areas of growth.
- The board will vote on accepting the proposed tool of evaluation. The process will include an assessment/conference in October, each conference will provide some modification of the goals. The final evaluation discussion will be conducted at an executive session and make a decision. This will be an ongoing evaluation process.
- H. Blumenthal suggested that the evaluation should be completed before the ending of the school year to decide whether or not the current HoS stays in office.
R. Keller made a motion to To approve the evaluation tool for the Head of School for this 2016-2017 academic school year.
S. Thomas seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IV. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
S. Retzlaff made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
M. Roney seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez