Voices for International Business and Education
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday August 16, 2017 at 6:00 PM
Location
727 Carondelet Street, New Orleans, LA
Voices for International Business and Education http://public.boardontrack.com/VIBE_1
Directors Present
A. Tufail, B. Schilling, C. Allen, J. Carter, K. Katner, M. Roney, R. Keller, S. Retzlaff, S. Thomas, T. Ceballos-Meyers
Directors Absent
A. Kock
Ex Officio Members Present
L. Lopez, S. Wilson
Non Voting Members Present
L. Lopez, S. Wilson
Guests Present
A. Berger, D. Deno, N. Reyes-Arias, 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 Aug 16, 2017 at 6:01 PM.
C.
Mission/Vision
Read by S. Retzlaff
D.
Approve Minutes
B. Schilling made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 06-28-17 Board Meeting on 06-28-17.
S. Retzlaff seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Chair's Report
A.
Chair Report
- Welcome back everybody!
- Our student cancelled before the meeting and don't have a student for today.
- Board retreat for the 18 and 19 of this month. Most members will be present only Ms. Kock will be absent due to being out of the country.
- Binders - T. Ceballos-Meyers, R. Keller need a new binder.
- S. Retzlaff and L. Lopez worked together to update the board manual. We will have an updated copy for the retreat.
- S. Thomas, S. Wilson and C. Allen have met over the summer to prepare for the '17-2018 school year.
- Governance will be looking at new policies.
- For the first time we will have a non-board member as part of the development committee. The governance committee will be looking into that.
- The academic committee will have some items to look into such as the academic dashboard and the latest state laws regarding school grading.
- The facilities committee is currently working on a couple of projects to better the school.
- Finance committee has worked on the KIPs
B.
Head of School Report
- The Head of School report was presented by SW.
- Today we have 600 students enrolled at IHSNO. However, we know that that number will go down as families finalize their school choices and students are marked absent for five consecutive days and dropped from our rosters.
- Due to the round-robin, Enrollnola will add students as the "algorithm" permits them.
- Attrition is higher than anticipated, but have been fortunate to get staff in alignment with IHSNO mission and needs. We currently have four positions vacant.
- By the principal of culture leaving IHSNO, it created the opportunity to restructure leadership creating three new positions; two assistant principals and a dean of culture.
- The IB results for the '16-2017 school year didn't meet the expectations. We are moving forward with a new IB coordinator to find better alignment and stronger push for our students to succeed in their IB efforts.
- SR commended the decision to promote leadership from within. J. Carreno and M. Tillman were part of the Strategic Planning development and strong contributors.
- The ESSA initiative has been implemented indicating that 25% of school's score will be determined by student's growth. Students will get this year double block of Math and English. As it is known that English has a correlation of positive impact on other disciplines such as social studies. As well as Math having a strong impact on Science.
- The ESSA initiative also reduces the amount of assessments a student is subject to.
- This initiative pays attention to the level a student comes in the building and how they grow and complete their IHSNO career. It is student specific.
- We have updated our website to give refreshed image to the school in this new school year.
- AT asked about the number of students in the IB program. SW explained that there is a number of students in the program that take "course option", not necessarily following the full IBDP class load leading to a diploma (46 seniors). The other number represented in the table is the number of students in the IBDP path leading to diploma achieving (64).
- TC asked if there is a quarterly "check-in" to monitor students' growth. AB stated that in the past, it was the expectation that students will reach out to the coordinator for help. This year the new coordinator has established a path for students to be monitored and the reach-out will be coordinator-initiated. Mr. Tillman has already started reaching out to students, families and increased the number of students registered in the program assuring them that he will be their greatest support.
- CA commended the student retention percentage, attendance monitoring, etc. She asked what is Restorative Approaches as it is listed as part of the pillars for IHSNO's culture. SW explained that this process refers to dialogue to resolve conflict and reflection on the negative behavior exhibited. There are multiple steps involved in the process.
III. Approval of Head of School Contract, 2017 - 2018
A.
New item
A. Tufail made a motion to Approve the Head of School Contract.
T. Ceballos-Meyers seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IV. Academic
A.
New item
- Dashboard and new standards will keep the committee busy.
V. Development
A.
New item
- The committee has started to meet this year. Had its first meeting last week
- The committee has started to discuss new committee members
- BS is asking to all board members to suggest names to participate in the committee
- BS is asking about big companies executives to ask for donations, participation, contacts, etc.
- The committee is also working some executive documents that need to be reviewed, revised and adopted.
- A mailing address is on the works
- The new website is live now with the donate button. It also has an online store that will leave us (IHSNO) with the 10% of all purchases.
- KK asked about board members donations. CA explained that there are pledge forms
- SR asked if there is a letter template to reach out to potential board members or donors. NRA explained that there are some materials available to reach out to different stakeholders.
- BS asked if we have a plan to highlight our most recent donation from Chip Forestall. NRA explained that there will be some plaques made for the doors that are being funded by those donations.
- BS suggested to list our donors on the website.
VI. Facility
A.
New item
- Hanging gardens is four phases. Not all phases are complete yet.
- Phase 1 was the patio flooring/base for the garden. Phase 2 was the front of the school getting the pipelines taken care of. Phase 3 was the roof. The only phase pending is four.
- KK asked how did the rain/flood impacted us. TM explained that we didn't flood much, we did get leakeage due to the hanging gardens' work done on the second floor.
VII. Finance
A.
New item
- The committee had its first meeting this week.
- Glad to announce that we ended the year with a strong balance.
- July doesn't have much activity
FNBC folded our line of credit a couple of months ago and now the committee is reccomending to the board to authorize the extend of credit request.
To pass a resolution for the "Resolution to Act" in request on a credit extension.
To pass a resolution for the "Resolution to Act" in request on a credit extension.
M. Roney made a motion to Pass a resolution to Act in request a credit extension with FNBC.
S. Retzlaff seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
VIII. Governance
A.
New item
- The governance committee is looking into developing a policy regarding non-board members having the right to vote in a committee if they are not board directors.
- AT - recommended to find the official statues of the state.
IX. Closing Items
A.
Closing statement by Chair
B.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:04 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez