Opening Items

Please note which board members are present and absent for the Secretary. 

The meeting will be called to order by the Chair. 

The meeting minutes from the previous month (regular meeting and special meeting) will be reviewed and voted for acceptance barring any agreed amendments. 

Note: Need to approve Emergency Meeting Notes from 8/17 as well. 

At each regular and special meeting which is open to the public, members of the public and employees of Kestrel Heights shall be afforded time, subject to reasonable constraints, to comment to the board.

Public/employee comments and questions shall be:
1) Limited to three minutes (2 minutes).
2) Directed to the Board and not to individual members.
3) Presented in a professional demeanor and not in a threatening, profane, vulgar or abusive manner.
4) Topics that are relevant to the business matters of the Kestrel Board of Directors.
5) Recognized after speaker provides their name to the Board President prior to addressing the Board.

It shall be the decision of the Board if it is appropriate to respond to a question and which Board member will respond. The Board encourages all comments/questions to be submitted in writing to the board following the two minutes to ensure the entire message is heard by the board.

Individuals who engage in repetitive comments/questions will be asked to refrain and/or yield the floor.

Governance

Annually there are two periods in which the board has to approve insurance for the school.  In April the Auto, Scholastic, General, and Worker Compensation insurance are due.  Ms.Buckholz will provide you an update on our current status and the plan to have options available for vote for the March meeting.  This will allow the school to provide our broker with directions on how to proceed and so that there are no gaps in coverage.  

Ms. Callahan has requested to update the School and Community Policy (3.40 Student Illness and Injury).  Attached is the updated policy with the changes in yellow.  She will present the changes and why she feels the change is necessary.  

Ms. Vargas will present the 2019-2020 proposed calendar.  This is an action item that requires a vote.  

Ms. Goff will provide an update on Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and that KHCS, has been designated as a Targeted Support & Improvement Additional Targeted Support (TSI-AT) school by the North Carolina State Board of Education.  As stated in ESSA Section 1111(d)(2), North Carolina had to identify schools for targeted support and improvement. We are one of 1,700+ TSI-AT schools in North Carolina that have a subgroup that is under-performing. The intent of this opportunity is to improve educational outcomes for all scholars, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction.  

Provide the report from the state of North Carolina as it pertains to the annual review of the Exceptional Children's Department.  Our school met all required expectations and had a 100% compliance rating.  The full report has been added for additional information.  

The state of North Carolina Department of Education and the Office of Charter Schools informed KHS that we are below the required 50% certification rate.  This cannot be addressed until the following school year.  The purpose of this ongoing agenda item is to develop a long term plan to address this concern.  

Feb:
Review Policy 

March-April 
Discuss current staff 

April-June 
Implement and communicate plan 

Current Policy:
2.18 Licensure Requirements

It is the expectation that all professional employees will hold a valid North Carolina license appropriate to the position in which he or she is employed. Licensure renewal is the responsibility of the individual, not of the school. Renewal activities for all professional employees need prior approval by the director. Any courses or activities undertaken shall directly relate to the employees' position responsibilities and shall have suitable content level. A record of all approvals; satisfactorily completed renewal activities and timely submission of certificate renewal data to the State Department of Public Instruction shall be maintained in the Personnel file. Any employee allowing a license to expire must have it reinstated prior to the beginning of the next school year. An expired license is a basis for dismissal.

2.21 Highly Qualified Teachers

Effective June 30, 2009, all teachers, regardless of hire date, should meet the qualifications and competencies established by federal and state law, policy and regulations, including the requirements of No Child Left Behind.

The Board of Directors will annually review all polices and staff handbooks, the schedule is below.  For the month of September the board is complete the 1st read of the School and Community Policy 

Staff Handbook
June (First Read)
July (Second Read)
August (Board Approval)

School and Community Policy Section
September (First Read)
October (Second Read)
November (Board Approval)

Finance Policy Section
December (First Read)
January (Second Read)
February (Board Approval)

Employee Policy Section
March (First Read)
April (Second Read)
May (Board Approval)



 

Dr. Tracy will provide an update on the 2020 Charter Renewal  and Annual Performance Framework

Charter Renewal: Site Visit

• Site Visit was completed on January 10 
• OCS completed:
  • A tour of the school 
  • Staff Session 
  • Parent Session 
  • Administration and Board Session 
• OCS had an issue with the room temperature, the snacks, room setup, and that parents were not informed of the reason for the meeting 
  • Communication was made multiple times the day of the event with the site evaluators and OCS 

 Performance Framework 

• Dr. Tracy has completed 17 of 18 required tasks
  • Only task not completed is Fire Inspection and OSHA 
    • These inspections have been complete and we are in compliance
      • I am just waiting on the final paperwork from Mr. Carter 
  • Fire Inspection and OSHA are due to the state on March 31 
  • Need to update school letter grade to match the format recently provided by OCS
• Four different Submission Deadlines 
  • January (5:5 Submitted)
  • February (4:4 Submitted)
  • March (4:5 Submitted)
  • April (4:4 Submitted)

We are well ahead of the game and we have all the necessary information.  

The PTSO has reached out to the board to discuss a more formal relationship. 

Academic Excellence

Board Members will have time to ask Executive Director specific questions pertaining to his monthly report.  

Dr. Tracy will discuss his plans for now through the 2019-20 school year.  

Board will need to discuss some of this information in closed session.  

§ 143-318.11.  Closed sessions.
(a)        Permitted Purposes. - It is the policy of this State that closed sessions shall be held only when required to permit a public body to act in the public interest as permitted in this section. A public body may hold a closed session and exclude the public only when a closed session is required:
To consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee; or to hear or investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual public officer or employee. General personnel policy issues may not be considered in a closed session. A public body may not consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, appointment, or removal of a member of the public body or another body and may not consider or fill a vacancy among its own membership except in an open meeting. Final action making an appointment or discharge or removal by a public body having final authority for the appointment or discharge or removal shall be taken in an open meeting.

Ms. Goff will present her reason and rationale for staffing changes at the school.  

Special Education Teacher Assistant (Social and Emotional)

§ 143-318.11.  Closed sessions.
(a)        Permitted Purposes. - It is the policy of this State that closed sessions shall be held only when required to permit a public body to act in the public interest as permitted in this section. A public body may hold a closed session and exclude the public only when a closed session is required:
To consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee; or to hear or investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual public officer or employee. General personnel policy issues may not be considered in a closed session. A public body may not consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, appointment, or removal of a member of the public body or another body and may not consider or fill a vacancy among its own membership except in an open meeting. Final action making an appointment or discharge or removal by a public body having final authority for the appointment or discharge or removal shall be taken in an open meeting.

The board had requested information pertaining to damage to the basketball goal at the K-5 campus and the gate for the bus containment area.  

Basketball Goal
During a cross country meet, the bus driver from Glover Garden Charter School hit the goal.  They have accepted responsibility and we are currently working with the school to get it fix.  

Fence of Bus Containment Area 
After talking with our team, it has been determined that the fence has been damaged for many years.   It has been damaged for so long that the team no longer remembers when it was broken.  It has not been addressed for fiscal and operational reasons. 

We currently do not use the space because the buses get stuck in the mud, we do not feel that space will provide the necessary security from a committed criminal, and we have already secured the bus via other methods.  Fiscally it has not been a priority based on more pressing matters.  

 

Finance

Review of the monthly expenses from the school through the month of September.  

To inform the board on the progress being made by Avison and Young in an attempt to sell this property.  

Monthly Progress Report 
I hope all is well with you. We have started marketing the property for sale at 107 Capitola Drive. Below are the items of note:

•  Marketing flyer completed and approved
• Signage installed
• Added the listing information to CoStar, LoopNet, and our AY Company website
• Sent out an email blast announcing the property to hundreds of brokers, developers, and investors
• John Linderman is asking Bobbitt Design to do some engineering to see how much square footage the site will accommodate
• We met with Barrister Commercial this week and they have expressed some interest in the site.
• Dan Smith inquired about the property. We sent him the flyer and will follow up.

That’s all for now. Please let us know if you have questions.
 
Thanks so much!
Bill

The Board of Directors will confirm if they want to seek proposals for the 2019-20 school year.  In order to do this in a timely fashion the Board would need to identify the contractor areas this month, send the RFP's before the start of March and decide on vendors in April.  


Here are a list of services we currently contract out:  

• Cafeteria/Child Nutrition 
• Custodial/Cleaning 
• Technology 
• Audit Services 
• Financial Services (payroll and invoicing) 
• E Rate 
• Attorney 
• Lawn Care 
• Insurance Broker (Liability)
• Insurance Broker (Health)