Lowcountry Montessori School
Minutes
July LMS Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday July 26, 2018 at 6:30 PM
Location
749 Broad River Dr., Beaufort, SC 29906
The mission of Lowcountry Montessori School is to provide an authentic Montessori education building a foundation for lifelong learning.
Directors Present
C. Lucas (remote), D. Fent, D. Pickett, I. Deysach, P. Chester
Directors Absent
C. Blumenstein, K. Wiley, S. Lemstrom, S. Wiggins
Guests Present
A. Horn, S. Fox
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
D. Pickett called a meeting of the board of directors of Lowcountry Montessori School to order on Thursday Jul 26, 2018 at 6:56 PM.
C.
Reading of Mission Statement
D.
Approval of Agenda
I. Deysach made a motion to approve agenda.
D. Pickett seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
E.
Statement of Compliance with FOIA
F.
Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting and May meeting
D. Pickett made a motion to approve minutes from the June LMS Board Meeting on 06-28-18 June LMS Board Meeting on 06-28-18.
I. Deysach seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Public Comment
A.
Public comment period, limited to 3 minutes per person.
n/a
III. Director's Report
A.
June update.
Full High School, may need to offer more Kinder seats to up the Primary count. 6 PK, 12 PK4, 30 K are enrolled and then will offer more K if needed. Advertising on Billboard on 170. Staff Development - implementing Restorative Justice this year and would like Board to read, as well. We have revamped our discipline procedure and will be doing staff development with this model.
IV. Committee Reports
A.
Academic Excellence
Did not meet. The committee may not need to meet during the summer. Attendance has been challenging.
B.
Governance
Did not meet. The list of people to contact regarding Board development will be sent out by Patrick tomorrow. Call them and invite them to next month's Board meeting.
C.
Finance
Need to vote to approve budget. June budget also. This budget has been adjusted and reflects a small surplus at the end of the year of about 44K.
P. Chester made a motion to approve the budget.
D. Pickett seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
P. Chester made a motion to Approve the June financials (end of last fiscal year).
D. Fent seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Collections - PK fees and supply fees are two big ones that people owe. About $40K uncollected. Discussion about how to handle getting the money from them. Amy would like a policy from the Board that states how to handle this with people. Wordware (?) is the payment portal that Riverview uses and is user-friendly. It has a 3% fee for payments other than Early/After care. We want to make it easier for people to pay. We can hold records until the payment is made if needed. The Board will make a collections policy through the Finance Committee and submit for approval at the next meeting.
D.
Fundraising
We have almost 100% of Board Members who have contributed to the fund. Raise The Roof (RTR) needs to begin to meet and get sponsors. RTR will be April 6, 2019.
E.
Facilities
Nothing to report from Clay on the committee.
From Amy, we are trying to dissolve the LP and there was an amendment that was presented by Educational Fund of America who is the link to the EB5 funding we received, and who ACD worked with to utilize that funding. Without the amendment, we could potentially be stuck in the LP for another few years. We would like to dissolve the LP in order for the staff to become eligible for the state healthcare plan. The amendment was reviewed by our attorney and they said it looked fine. The amendment was time-sensitive, so Amy sent it in after speaking with Dwayne and the attorney. The original LP Agreement was reviewed. We need to request a copy of the signed amendment and the original document from EFA.
From Amy, we are trying to dissolve the LP and there was an amendment that was presented by Educational Fund of America who is the link to the EB5 funding we received, and who ACD worked with to utilize that funding. Without the amendment, we could potentially be stuck in the LP for another few years. We would like to dissolve the LP in order for the staff to become eligible for the state healthcare plan. The amendment was reviewed by our attorney and they said it looked fine. The amendment was time-sensitive, so Amy sent it in after speaking with Dwayne and the attorney. The original LP Agreement was reviewed. We need to request a copy of the signed amendment and the original document from EFA.
P. Chester made a motion to Approve the requested amendments to the LP agreement.
I. Deysach seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
V. New Business
A.
Vote on company to apprasie the school
Mike Bell presented. We reached out to John Emerling (?) out of Denver who has given us his resume and pulled together a quote of $8k. We had subsequent conversations with Ameris Bank who is working with Bridges. We would like to see if we can get the bank to do the appraisal for between 3K-5K. With the Board meeting once a month, we would like to be able to have the flexibility to make some decisions quickly. We are requesting a "Not to exceed" policy tonight. Ameris will give us a list of several appraisers for us to choose from. They need our financials and the contract and then will give us the names. They would like to be a part of the funding process.
P. Chester made a motion to Approve the purchase of appraisal services not to exceed 8K with the final award notification to the Board prior to contract signing and notification to the board by email.
D. Fent seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
VI. Old Business
A.
Continued use of BoardOnTrack
Matt suggested making a webpage that does what Board on Track does for us to save the money. He is out of town, we would like to table the discussion until the next meeting when he can describe what his plan is. The Board will contact the Board on Track representative for a conversation about the product. Those that want to attend can.
VII. Executive Session
A.
Executive Session
n/a
VIII. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
D. Pickett made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
P. Chester 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 8:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
S. Fox