Welcome all of the new board members and thank you to the leadership for being here.
Introductions of all board members and leadership.
 

Jason:
Thank you to Mazie Lynn for her work as chair of the board and all the work she did on the previous charter renewal.

Very proud of the growth WIA has achieved in the last 3 years and looking forward to continuing the work in the future; to provide consistency for our students and staff.

Donica - Milestones Update:
We have not received much more data than at the last board meeting. Retakes were administered in June; participation rate was good. While the timing was not ideal, overall happy with participation (first time retakes have been in the summer). Trending in the right direction and looking forward to seeing the final results.

 

Anthony - China Trip Update:
• 5th year we've done the CSP (China Summer Program)
• Nanjing University for 4 weeks with trips to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Focusing on language immersion and cultural excursion. Cost is $5,000 per student and students must have a YCT II or above to qualify for the trip. Communication is through Facebook and We Chat - no screen time allowed on the trip.
• Language immersion: 90% of the classroom instruction is in the target language; 24/7 Chinese speaking environment and interaction with local students.
• Cultural excursions: Nanjing Massacre museum and other fun places. Also experienced culture classes in the afternoon.
• Housing and Food: housed at Nanjing Huada and Phoenix Plaza Hotel. Breakfast and dinner were at the hotel and lunch at the school cafeteria.
• Continued Development of WIA CSP: Currently speaking with 3 top-notch universities this June in Beijing to seek new opportunities to restructure and continue to expand the CSP to make it available to more students.
2020 Proposal -- new location in Beijing for 3 weeks at a cost of $3750 with no language proficiency requirement and all 6th and 7th grade students would be eligible.

Jason: New Hires
• We have hired 27 new staff members this year. Chris has done an amazing job with on boarding. 

Jason: Facilities Update
• Media center project is fantastic. The overall project is not 100% complete but is well on its way.
• Have been doing drainage work this summer to help alleviate the water buildup that occurs after a heavy rain, especially on the playground.

List: Grants
We were awarded 2 grants right before the July break. Both are State grants awarded to Charter schools via the LEA's (APS for us). Safety and Security Grant ($30K) and Facilities Grant ($40K). For the facilities grant, we have identified 3 projects that must be completed this fiscal year. 1) Complete the drainage project; 2) Update the digital sign on Memorial; 3) Auditorium resurfacing project. The Safety and Security Grant projects include 1) Uniformed locking system for interior and exterior doors on the campus; 2) put beacons on emergency exit doors that face Memorial Drive; 3) fire and safety system, which currently works but is not the most technologically advanced.

Alastair: Dashboard
Board received full dashboard prior to the meeting. Will continue to use moving forward to track our goals as a school and how we are performing against our charter. Also, tracks committee goals.

None.

Katie Delp:
• Board Calendar: Should be finalized and emailed out this week after final confirmation.
• Wesley email is working for all but one board member; will get that fixed. All business should be conducted via your WIA email.
• Board on Track - Board management platform. If you are still not on BOT, contact Thomas.
• Everyone should have received 3 documents from Chris via DocuSign: WIA Code of Ethics, Board
Acknowledgement of Conflict of Interest, and Board Member Agreement Please get all documents signed and back to Chris as soon as possible.
• Board Training: All board members are required to meet State mandated training hours. We do most of ours through GCSA (2 in-person) and Webinars. If you have not completed Doodle Survey, please do so. Typically on Tuesdays from 4:30 - 8:30 with Elisa Falco; first one either August 13th or 20th. Monday October 21st from 5:30 to 8:30 will be required for new board members via Webinar. New Board Members must also complete mandatory finance training, which is only offered twice a year.

No vote - sending to finance committee for budget revision.

Need to get committees up and going so we can start getting to work on this year. Please email Katie by the end of this week with the committee you'd like to serve on. Please send top 1 and 2 and keep in mind meeting times. We must have a quorum for committee meetings, so please take schedule into account when making your selections.

Committee Chairs:
Finance - Chip 
Academic - Jan
Governance - Tom
Development - Katie (looking for co-chair) 

Committee chairs to get annual meetings in BOT before the August board meeting so the entire annual calendar is public.

Did not meet in June. Waiting on Milestones. Will probably not meet again until August.

To be discussed in Executive Session

Administration has brought this to governance.
Goal is to allow teachers to expand their education, which would be reimbursed by WIA.
Still working on approved schools, approved degrees, and the criteria for how teachers will be chosen.
Looking at reimbursing up to $10K per teacher for a 18-month program. Looking specifically at Masters degrees / MAT. (Goal is to keep the teachers in the classrooms)

• Discuss recently issued employment contracts
• Preliminary personnel goal planning discussion
• Review of ED Evaluation via BOT

Ms. Hudson - new office manager
Ms. Smith - new registrar 
Both are 12-month positions