Discussion was held about auditing prior finance committee meeting minutes, and plan to ensure that those are all approved and published to the public.  Finance Committee may vote on these next time.

December Financials discussed, including balance sheet and budgeted vs. actual documents.  Diana inquired as to accounts payable line growing in December 2024, Megan explained that that is likely due to the timing and the holiday, as checks for the holidays not paid until the business day after the new year would be recorded as accounts payable.  Further inquiry about personnel costs on the budget sheet, Kendra explained that there was one staff member let go who would not have drawn a paycheck in the latter half of December, and three staff members are out on PFML.  Overall, the finances look good and on-target for where we should be in the year.

At the last board meeting, board members inquired about FDIC protection for Board funds.  All of the school's accounts are with Berkshire Bank. Central Source has suggested diversifying cash to better protect the school from bank risks.  They have recommended looking into Fidelity and local banks.  Megan will be meeting internally with other Central Source personnel to work on this issue, including investigation of which banks may also participate in non-profit fundraising.  Kendra is meeting with a local bank, who is coming to the school to teach financial literacy, and will start a discussion.  School has a good relationship with Berkshire Bank, will be meeting with school leadership in coming weeks.  Tentative plan to leave primary accounts for school operations with Berkshire and to investigate options for diversifying cash holdings.  

Discussion regarding potential recruitment of Board Member Darren James to committee.  With his financial expertise, he will be a great asset to the committee.

Date and time of next meeting planned for 2/6/2025 at 10:30am to accommodate change in board meeting, which was rescheduled from 2/18 to 2/11 due to Spring Break.  Megan will be able to attend the first 20 minutes only due to a prescheduled appointment, so we will discuss the financials with Megan first next time.