Dr. Thomas read the mission and Vision 

• S. Royal is a senior at IHSNO. Ms. Royal is a student Ambassador at IHSNO. She would like to be a social worker. She likes to work with children.
• Terry Miles is a Junior at IHSNO. He likes the cultural diversity at the school and the languages. He would like to be a video game designer. 
• Terriel Strader is a senior at IHSNO and a student ambassador. She is planning on studying literature or become a chef and own her own restaurant.  
  • They like being ambassadors which holds a lot of responsibility helping with events around the school and lead visitors around the school. 

Two candidates were interviewed 

This is a very committed board. We have never had to cancel for lack of quorum which speaks volumes. 
The leadership for this year has been great yielding to have a 14-member board. 

Appeal of the 5th circuit - Oral arguments are scheduled to be on April 5th open to the public located on Camp St. right across from Lafayette square. 

The HOS evaluation process is on. CA has shared the report with the rest of the board members. CA is encouraging feedback from the rest of the board to share at the March board meeting. The board will go into executive session to discuss details of the document and process. 

Graduation May 24th at 10:00am at Xavier University. 

The board will host a end of the year lunch for staff.  We are currently working on determining the date and menu. 

The HOS report was presented and shared with all board members. 

• We are having our 5-yr IB review coming up in March 5-6 
• We have an online spirit store up and running. A percentage of all sales come back to IHSNO. 
• The number of students participating in the IB program has significantly increased since 2015. 
• The Pupil Progression Plan has been submitted and students requiring remediation are receiving the services needed. 
• Behavioral problems are on the high around the city and our school has not been an exception, Our culture team has responded promptly and properly.  
• We will be required to provide transportation for all students by next school year. This is an example of another unfunded mandate inflicted on Type 2 Charters. 
• Type 2 charter school means that we have the ability to enroll students from all parishes in the state of LA, 
• AT asked if conversations have taken place with other Type 2 charter schools regarding the limits of transportation and the financial impact of this new mandate. 
• SW stated that we are required to provide transportation for Orleans parish residents only, but if we are interested in continue to enroll students from other parishes, we will need to provide transportation for them too. 
• The Student Support Services department continues to work tirelessly with the socio-emotionally challenges our students present as well as academic challenges. 
• A reminder that board members should complete the TIER 3 PERSONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE. 
  • If board members want IHSNO to take care of processing it, IHSNO needs to have the information by May 15. 
• The calendar at a glance for the 2018-2019 school year is now available. 
  • We currently have three contingency days for the next school year should we need to be off due to inclement weather or any other extenuating circumstances. 
• MR asked about the remediation number being over 300 students is a "normal number" 
• SW explained that as an open enrollment school, we don't have any selection process, therefore, a lot of students below grade level get assigned to our school in need of remediation. 
• Board members are encouraged and invited to the on-site review process as it is an important process. 

Board Member of the month who exemplifies the IB trait for the month Risk Taker is Dr. Shontell Thomas

• The committee has worked on reviewing and updating the strategic plan and goals. 
• SR presented the recommendations made by the committee. 

MR suggested to analyze and discuss the updates of every committee to make sure it all aligns. 
 

• The academic committee has worked on the dashboard template that captures the information that the committee would like to see. 
• The dashboard presented does not have any real data, rather is a template. The committee is presenting the dashboard template for the rest of the board members to provide feedback on the information this template intends to capture. 
• Once agreed upon, the information will be presented including charts and graphs. 
• The academic committee will present at the next meeting the updated dashboard. 

• The committee has worked on approving latest policies for fundraising and gifting. 
• The committee is also working on a fundraising event on April 21st close to the GIVEnola event, but not too close to be overshadowed by it. The goal is to have 5 celebrity chefs showcasing their cuisine at the Tulane Mansion. We are planning on continuing the silent auctions starting ahead of the event's day. 
  • The idea is that the event has a ticket price of $75.00 since this year we are having celebrity chefs. 
  • We are projecting of selling about 300 tickets. 
  • We want to invite our corporate partners to sponsor tables. 
  • We are thinking about inviting artists to come see our students' work and pair them with our students. 
  • We have already reached out to the potential donors for food, spirits and hopefully, the venue is also donated. 
  • The main purpose of this event is to increase awareness of IHSNO in the community and prepare them for the GiveNOLA day. 
  • We are hoping to have the venue confirmed by the end of this week. 
  • KK suggested having a student showcase 
• The administration is seeking the support of the board to make sure the event is well attended. 
• We also want silent auction items for the event. 

• The committee is currently working on getting the long-term lease for the building. 
• Meetings are being scheduled with the board members of OPSB to talk to them about the lease
• We led-tested the water and the results came out to be healthy for our consumption
• The administration has presented a list of projects and repairs that are needed. Each committee meeting the list of progress is presented. 
• The committee is also looking into working with the Small Tulane school of architecture to help improve the facilities. 
• We have to submit an application and get selected by them to work with us. 

The financials for November, December and January were presented. 
The administration is working on a forecast through the end of the year. 
During the last committee meeting, there was not a quorum, but the conversation was had regarding the healthy months of cash to keep in reserve. 

It was determined that 5 weeks worth of cash is the best number for IHSNO to keep cash.
A cash retention policy will be developed by the committee to be recommended to the board. 
 

B. Schilling reminded all board members to complete their pledge form as we would like to have 100% participation from all board members. 

The governance participation was deferred to the beginning of the meeting to nominate the two new board members. 

• Board members are invited to attend to our Black History Month Celebration on January 28th at 11:45