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Voices for International Business and Education

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday November 15, 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

B. Schilling, C. Allen, D. Batiste, J. Carter, M. Roney, R. Keller, S. Retzlaff

Directors Absent

A. Kock, A. Tufail, K. Katner, S. Thomas, T. Ceballos-Meyers

Ex Officio Members Present

L. Lopez, S. Wilson

Non Voting Members Present

L. Lopez, S. Wilson

Guests Present

A. Berger, D. Deno, E. Simmons, 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 Nov 15, 2017 at 6:03 PM.

C.

Mission/Vision

MR read the mission & vision

D.

Approve Minutes

B. Schilling made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 10-18-17 Board Meeting on 10-18-17.
R. Keller seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. Chair and HoS Reports

A.

Chair Report

We have three students with us tonight Jose Rosales, Terrielle Strader, and Grace Clark. 
  • Terrielle Strader and Grace Clark are both seniors
  • Jose Rosales is a Junior 
  • GC shared that today we had a Mock Mayoral run-off and all students got to vote. Students watched the debate electronically in their classrooms 
  • JR shared that as student ambassadors they observed how engaged students were in the election.
  • TS shared that student ambassadors monitored that students were voting and assisted with the process. 
  • DB asked how are ambassadors selected? 
    • GC explained that to be an ambassador students have to apply and have a certain GPA to be able to serve since a lot of times, students have to be out of class for their functions. 
    • TS shared that she is aiming to attend Oxford University in England 
    • GC would like to attend John Hopkins university. She may be attending Tulane for a degree in Psychology. 
    • JR shared that he has a lot of interests to choose a career, has not made a decision yet. He would like to apply to an out-of-state university or even out-of-Country. 
  • CA introduced Ms. Gail Lazard and Ms. Stacey Cunningham as potential board members. They have started their application process and will be at the January meeting. 
  • Fr. Carter introduced a guest who is interested in becoming a board member.
 
  • CA reminded all board members about Graduation on May 24 at 10:00 am at the Convocation Center of Xavier University. Please plan to attend. 
 
  • The board will have their Winter party on December 15 in KKs house. 
  • CA reminded all board members to keep track of their hours on the log provided in their binders at the beginning of the school year. 
  • CA thanks the chairs for all the hard work and commitment in moving the Strategic Plan forward.


 

B.

HoS Report

  • SW thanks our students for being here with us tonight and sharing their experiences
  • IHSNO Stays as a C rated school. Support systems to improve our performance score for next year are currently being implemented. 
  • BS asked what were the areas that we lost the most points. 
  • SW shared that the EOCs was the area where we were hurt the most. 
  • ACT - some of the students coming to IHSNO are not proficient at their grade level. Some students have not received proper academic support in prior years. We no longer have the ability to make admission's decisions, we serve everyone assigned through the EnrollNOLA process; this sometimes meaning students are behind in their educational career. Going forward, students' growth will also be taken in consideration.  
  • Graduation Cohort - If a student comes to IHSNO and then leaves us without graduating, it hurts us if they don't move on to finish their High School career. We are now devoting time, energy and effort in marketing what IHSNO is about, offers and what are the expectations so our community and potential families are knowledgeable of the expectations and opportunities offered at IHSNO. We also have not gotten credit in the past for 5-year graduates. We will get those points/credits in the future. 
  • English II & III - we are working with the department chair to move this area forward. Last year English testing was for II and III, now testing will happen in English I & II. We have double blocked ELA classes for our freshmen to get them ready as well as double blocked Algebra and Geometry. 
  • The IHSNO Curriculum is also currently in development. 
  • The curriculum is being built as we analyze data, practices and determine the path to follow in the future. 
  • The IB numbers were shared as presented in the table in the report. 
  • The ELL population numbers were also presented. 
  • We currently have no vacant positions. 
  • Our students are currently participating in remediation during and after school. 
  • We did see an increase in discipline infractions this month, which is not foreign during this time of the year. 
  • By state law, transportation must be provided for all students beginning 2018 school year. 
  • Advisory clubs are going well. This year we have made it more accessible to participate during the school day on Fridays instead of advisory time.  
  • Parental Involvement - We have an active PTO club with a President; Erica Abdullah, PTO representative for the board; Ms. Simmons, vice-president, secretary and members.  
  • Athletics are doing well. This is the first year we have a volleyball team who did a great job during their season. SW invited all to attend the panthers' games. Dates and locations are on the school calendar on the website. 
  • We have some great partnerships we are participating in: 
    • Operation Sparks: Network design, we have 5 students participating in this program. Four seniors and 1 sophomore. 
    • Tulane: students from Tulane come to tutor students after school to support them with homework and 1:1 mentorship. Their support focuses mainly on working with our ELL students. 
    • Entergy: A group of 26-29 students are participating in receiving support from the Entergy staff in improving their ACT scores. Students get 1:1 tutoring for ACT, a book, snacks, transportation and financial reward at the end of the school year. Students shared that it has shown to be really helpful. 
  • We have an increase in the Individual Education Plans receiving Special Education services. Accommodations and modifications are made for those students to ensure they are successful in their High School career. 
  • We are currently at 3.8 million in scholarships awarded to our seniors. 
  • We've had vision/hearing screening, free flu shots for our students brought to us by our nurse. 
  • Our social worker continues to work closely with the culture team, the nurse, and Special Education Coordinator in providing students who need the psychosocial support they need. 
  • Financial information update was shared. 
  • Our staff continues to receive professional development either off-campus, or on-campus peer-led. 
  • We have a new camera system that covers multiple spaces outside of the building. We do not believe in having cameras inside the building. 
  • We are currently creating a technology plan to improve our systems. 
  • Development is active at full speed bringing a lot of positive media attention and grant awards. 
  • SW reminded all attendees to complete their ethics training. It is due to the state no later than Dec. 21st. There is a link to the report to do the training. 
  • The Staff members of the month being recognized and celebrated for the IB learner profile of the month of October are: 
    • Mr. Cody Bourque
    • Mr. Charles Young 
    • Mr. Byes 
    • Ms. Noyola 
  • The same way we celebrate our students, staff members, we also recognize our board members. This month the board members voted Dr. Allen to be the board member who exhibits the IB learner trait of the month of October; Caring. 
  • RK asked for a list of colleges that have visited IHSNO. 
  • SR asked more information about the Charter Schools conference taking place on December 13 and 14. So far the following board members are attending: 
    • C. Allen 
    • R. Keller
    • B. Shilling 

C.

Recommend to the Board that Dr. Donaldo Batiste joins the Governance Committe

R. Keller made a motion to accept Dr. Batiste in the Governance Committee.
B. Schilling seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

III. Committee Reports

A.

Academic Committee

  • Due to the Thanksgiving break, the committee met last night. The preliminary draft of the minutes are on BOT. 
  • The committee reviewed the strategic pillars and have suggested some edits on wording and objectives. 
    • Goal 3. it was suggested to add the Language and STEAM labs
    • Culture - Suggested changes in objectives particularly adding an alumni association to help recruit for new students. 
  • A lot of the time spent had to do with discussing outcomes and objectives. Fr. C suggested that the governance committee take a look at the definitions of management and governance that academic committee has edited. He also stated that the administration would come up with more specifics on a dashboard and the committee will track the progress and meeting of such goals. 
  • In future meetings we will discuss key quantifiable results to be included on the dashboard.  

B.

Development . Committee

  • The committee met on Monday with a new committee member. Ms. Lennox is not a board member, but a committee member who will help in the development area. 
  • The committee is currently working on some documents and expects to share with the rest of the board members at the January meeting. 
  • The pledge form has been updated and was shared on the agenda packet for tonight's meeting. BS asks that the board members fill out their pledge and turn it by January. 
  • CA reminded all board members of their financial commitment. 
  • MR asked if we can make the form electronically to save some extra work on the staff and make sure it is captured accurately. 

C.

Facilities Committee

  • KK was not present

D.

Finance Committee

  • Committee met this month to review the strategic plan. 
  • Items to be edited and proposed to the board at large in January have to do with dates; not so much the content. 
  • We are currently working on selecting an auditing firm. We are planning on starting the process early to be ready for audit time and have a new firm by then. 
  • In our cash reserve we are well above of what is required by the state which is 2 months of cash. 
  • Our line of credit has been renewed as of October. We usually don't draw out of our line of credit, but it is important to have it available should we need it. 
M. Roney made a motion to To accept the financials as presented.
R. Keller seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
  • Ms. Simmons asked what will be the cost of the lead test? 
  • SW explained that OPSB and RSD will install filters and lead the testing effort. We will test the lead levels during winter break since it has been stated that lead levels in water have to be tested after school has not been in session for a couple of days. 

E.

Governance Committee

 
  • RK reminded us of our Financial disclosure due by April 2018 and the Ethics training due December 2017. 
  • Board agreement document was updated and will be circulated to all board members. 
  • CA shared with us that there is a new charter school legal handbook.  
  • MR requested an electronic copy. LL will circulate the latest version to everyone. 

IV. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

B. Schilling made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
J. Carter 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 7:33 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez