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Voices for International Business and Education

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday March 15, 2017 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, S. Retzlaff, S. Thomas

Directors Absent

R. Keller

Ex Officio Members Present

L. Lopez, S. Wilson

Non Voting Members Present

L. Lopez, S. Wilson

Guests Present

A. Berger, D. Deno, L. Crowe, R. McGee, T. McGregor

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

Dr. Thomas is running late

Board Members Absent: 
Keller, Schilling, Ceballos-Meyer

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 Mar 15, 2017 at 6:06 PM.

C.

Mission

  • Stacie read the mission 

D.

Approve Minutes

S. Retzlaff made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 01-18-17 Board Meeting on 01-18-17.
H. Blumenthal seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Report of the Chair

A.

Chair Report

  • Xiomara Castillo 
  • The board members introduced themselves 
  • Xiomara is a Honduras native and started her educational journey at IHSNO and learned English. A former teacher started an initiative on Saturdays for students to practice English reading   and pronunciation. As the years have gone, Ms. Causey has worked very closely with Xiomara to get her where she is at right now. Xiomara is now a full IBDP student.
  •  Xiomara is going to UNO after graduation and wants to be a nurse. 
  • Ms. Nuria Arias was Introduced to the board. She is IHSNO's new development coordinator. 
  •  
  • The board chair wants to make sure that all board members have received all their pledge forms. 
  • Mariska and Denise will follow up with the other new board members to see if they have received their pledge forms and move that forward. 
  • It is important that each board member has a copy of and reviews the strategic planning to prepare a full board review at the May Board Meeting. 
  • Stacie, Carol and Lynette are currently working on updating the documents and files as part of the bylaws. Expecting to have this ready by May 2017

III. Report of Head of School

A.

Head of School Report

  • The HoS presented his Head report 
  • A current initiative that IHSNO is currently participating in is to enter in MOUs with Jefferson Parish School District and St. Bernard regarding sharing information from the parishes that students come from to IHSNO. 
  • IHSNO has been in conversations with EnrollNOLA regarding families being assigned to IHSNO. 
  • iStudio is coming up on April 29 
  • EOC remediation has been initiated for those students who need it the most, but also open to those who are willing to participate to improve their scores. 
  • ACT preparation is taking place on Saturdays for students to get the practice they need to improve their scores. 
  • We have a Sped population of about a 10%
  • We are moving along as we should as a Charter School
  • Next year's enrollment is looking pretty good with about 300 students choosing us as their top choices.
  • IHSNO does not select the students that are assigned to us, rather we follow the OneApp process  
  • Meetings have been had regarding course progression and next year's master schedule to start getting ready for the '17-2018 school year. 
  • March 21 is the testing day for ACT and we are expecting students who are currently participating in prep classes to be really successful at the test. 
  • Attendance issues are being monitored by the social worker in reaching out to parents and providing attendance recovery days. 
  • Food services has been a success 
  • On the personnel side, letters regarding renewal of employment have been given out. 
  • A group from IHSNO administrators had the opportunity to visit and observe other IB schools in the area of Washington DC. Expenses were paid with American Express points. 
  • Jcampus training has been ongoing with all departments at IHSNO to better utilize the features offered in the package we are already paying for. 
  • We are continuing to reclaim our territory from the rodents. This has been an ongoing effort. 
  • Student Fees' policies will be revised to provide more information regarding what the fees cover for each student. 
  • Reminder of TIER 3 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement required of all board members.
  • Documents are attached for review. 
  • A Tufail asked if we have any insight regarding the attendance drop. S Wilson responded that we are currently engaging in conversations with other schools to find out about their trends in this regard.  
  • M Roney asked if the attendance recovery is an initiative unique of IHSNO and if it is a requirement. The answer is that other schools offer attendance recovery and it is not a requirement, yet best practice.
  • C Allen inquired about mid-year students come to us, are we made aware of students with IEPs. The answer is no, we are not always informed until students come to us and have been with us for a while. 

IV. Governance

A.

Report of Governance Committee

  • There is a potential board candidate going through the process 
  • R Keller is not present, but C Allen presented the information
  • It was voted to recommend the potential board member contingent to completing the required steps. 
  • A recommendation will not be voted tonight 

V. Facilities

A.

Report of Facility Committee

  • The goals of the committee had been shared with all committee members and who will review them to vote on them. 
  • The committee will make a recommendation to include those goals to the strategic plan as Kevin stated that the facilities goals were not included on the strategic plan. 
  • C Allen suggested that the committee takes a look at the strategic plan to incorporate some strategic components to it. 

VI. Finance

A.

Report of Finance Committee

  • The revised budget was presented for the board to approve
M. Roney made a motion to To approve the revised budget as presented.
S. Retzlaff seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
  • The February Financials were presented. 
  • MFP count for February had a differential and we will receive a difference of MFP beginning in March. 
  • The reserve is healthy at 10%
M. Roney made a motion to To approve the February financials as presented.
H. Blumenthal seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
  • The budget timeline was presented to prepare for next year 
  • It was voted in the finance committee 
M. Roney made a motion to To approve the budget timeline as presented.
J. Carter seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

VII. Academic

A.

Report of Academic Committee

  • Remediation opportunities have been created for students, yet it has been disappointing to realize that a lot of students are not taking the opportunity to get that extra support to improve their academic performance. 
  • The OneApp process has represented a challenge for students, families, and the educational program (IB) as students are often assigned without knowing what the school's focus is on. 
  • The dashboard that was presented to the committee was a very extensive 
  • The committee is currently working on a timeline to determine when will specific information from the dashboard will be presented.
  • A discussion was had regarding students not being college bound. 
  • The board is appreciative of the extensive dashboard information that was presented.

VIII. Development Committee

A.

New item

  • Blair is not present at the meeting, but has started to work with the Head of School and the new staff member person that will be working in the development area closely with the development committee. 
  • Ms. Nuria Reyes-Arias is new to the team and this is her third week in. A major grant was just submitted today. 
PUBLIC COMMENTS 
  • C. Mills representing the UTNO is asking to stop spending funds on fighting the union and the teachers. 
    • Mills stated the union won the jurisdiction and is asking the board to stop spending 
    • Tanisha Taylor is the parent of a 10th grader. The parent is asking when will the board will stop fighting the union. As a parent, she wants to know when the opportunity arise to ask questions and get answers. 
    • T Taylor stated that parents don't always have the time to attend meetings. 
  • D. Deno spoke of that the type 2 law suit which is based on the opinion Unions are not in support of charters. It would be good to find out more information about union's lack of support to charter schools. 
  • Grace Lambda stated that unions are not against of charter schools. 

IX. Adjournment to Executive Session

A.

Head of School Contract Discussion

M. Roney made a motion to Move into executive session.
H. Blumenthal seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

X. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

J. Carter made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
S. Thomas 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 8:43 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez