Paramount Schools of Excellence
Minutes
Paramount Board of Directors Public Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday June 21, 2022 at 5:30 PM
Location
Paramount Online Academy Training Room
1203 East Saint Clair
Door #8
Indianapolis, IN 46202
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Meeting ID: 815 6725 5132
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Meeting ID: 815 6725 5132
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Directors Present
B. Eldridge, E. Mendez (remote), J. Amu (remote), J. Hazzard, Jr. (remote), M. Bishop (remote), P. Blackard (remote), T. Rude
Directors Absent
A. Bekele
Guests Present
B. Richardson (remote), Brandalyn Hayes (remote), Brent Eskridge (remote), Case Calvert (remote), Chris Larson (remote), D. Sawyers (remote), D. Taylor (remote), J. Hurley (remote), K. Beauchamp, K. Sherrow (remote), Lisa Hopman (remote), M. Miller, S. Kuhn (remote), T. Gustin (remote), T. Palacios (remote), V. Hereens (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Public Comments
A.
Public Comments
III. Consent Agenda Review and Approval
A.
Review and Approve Minutes
Each consent agenda includes minutes from the prior meeting and the monthly financial packet including monthly vouchers.
B.
Voucher Approval
IV. New Business
A.
Paramount Enrollment
Tommy Reddicks reviewed the enrollment tracker and how the schools are progressing towards enrollment goals over the summer. We are currently interviewing for a Director of Marketing who we hope to hire at the end of the summer to assist with these student recruitment processes moving forward.
B.
School Budget
Marcus Miller reviewed the school budget for the 2022-2023 school year. A highlights page was created to show the major changes that were made to the previous school year's budget. The school took a conservative approach to the budget and factored in enrollment to create a reserve.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| B. Eldridge |
Aye
|
| J. Amu |
Aye
|
| A. Bekele |
Absent
|
| M. Bishop |
Aye
|
| E. Mendez |
Aye
|
| J. Hazzard, Jr. |
Aye
|
| T. Rude |
Aye
|
| P. Blackard |
Aye
|
C.
School 7
The Mind Trust has agreed to provide us with $1 million in funding to assist with the startup of the school. Tommy Reddicks reviewed the greenlighting tool used to assess the opening of the Indianapolis K-8 girls’ school in 2024. The enrollment capacity for the school would be 450 students and would be located in the Broad Ripple area. The school would be STEM-focused with a direct pathway to college through Purdue Polytechnic.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| A. Bekele |
Absent
|
| B. Eldridge |
Aye
|
| T. Rude |
Aye
|
| E. Mendez |
Aye
|
| M. Bishop |
Aye
|
| P. Blackard |
Aye
|
| J. Hazzard, Jr. |
Aye
|
| J. Amu |
Aye
|
D.
22-23 Staff Handbook
A change was made to the 22-23 PTO policy, which now states that, "unless superseded by board action" the PTO policy will remain the same. A Title IX section was also added to the handbook. The staff handbook has been reviewed by the board’s governance committee and the school is seeking board approval for the final 22-23 staff handbook.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| J. Hazzard, Jr. |
Aye
|
| B. Eldridge |
Aye
|
| A. Bekele |
Absent
|
| M. Bishop |
Aye
|
| T. Rude |
Aye
|
| E. Mendez |
Aye
|
| P. Blackard |
Aye
|
| J. Amu |
Aye
|
V. Operations Reports
A.
Navigation Team
Barb Richardson, the school’s Director of Advancement, will be retiring at the end of the month and will be greatly missed by Paramount.
B.
Principal Reports
POA - Brandalyn Hayes
POA is deeply focused on enrollment and is partnering with the Englewood team on canvassing in neighborhoods to recruit new students. Team leads are working with Dr. Hayes to prepare for the school year and finalize curriculum maps.
PEN - Darius Sawyers
Summer school will be wrapping up in the next 2 weeks. Three days a week Englewood staff have been walking door to door to recruit families. Taelor Garrett has been working with Darius Sawyers to ensure that we are recruiting new staff members for the upcoming year.
PCH - Tara Gustin
PCH has been focused on enrollment efforts and finalizing staffing for the 22-23 academic year.
PBR - Korry Sherrow/Dexter Taylor
The Brookside enrollment team has been working diligently to recruit new students and retain and engage our returning families. After the 4th of July, there will be a family movie and ice cream night at the school for families. Brookside students are halfway through summer school, which will wrap up on July 1st. The Brookside middle school department will be restructuring at the start of the school year. The middle school team will break into three-person departments, focused on a specific grade level.
VI. Closing Items
A.
Next Meeting
July 19th @ 5:30 pm (1203 E. St. Clair Street Indianapolis, IN 46202)
No members of the public were present.