The minutes of the board meeting on June 19th, 2015 were presented for approval. Jeanne Eagle made the motion and it was seconded by Lucille Hicks to accept the minutes of the June board meeting. The VOTE to approve the minutes was unanimous.

Will Gardner informed us that the sub-contractor bids for our new construction will be opened officially on Monday, July 27th, and that the general contractor bids will be opened publicly on Wednesday, August 5th. The 12 million dollars of New Market Tax Credits will realize 3 million dollars for Alma. Monday, July 27th begins a week of introduction for the new staff and during the following two weeks all staff will work on getting ready for the new year. Will has the goals this coming year with teachers of building new talent and working on keeping good talent.

Will presented to us electronically the Annual Report for 2014-2015 that is prepared for the DESE. Bob Unger made the motion and it was seconded by Lucile Hicks to accept the Annual Report for 2014-2015 as presented. The motion was VOTED unanimously.

Will presented electronically the updated Alma Family Handbook for our information. The document is used to increase the exchange of information between Alma and the families of the scholars. Communication is key especially in any disciplinary situation. Bob Unger made the suggestion that a short document should be presented to parents/guardians and written in Spanish and Portuguese. This task would fall under the duties of our new Dean of Culture.

The Parent Survey Data from 2014-2015 was presented for our information. Adjustments to services such as transportation, food services, and uniforms are made when possible to requests from parents and scholars.

The draft Board Calendar can be accessed through our Alma Gmail account using Google Calendar (see Lourdes for assistance). Remember to put on your calendar Thursday, September 24th for dinner before the Board Retreat on Friday, September 25th at 8:30 a.m. - place to be determined.

Chris Arnold is preparing the Executive Director evaluation from all the board entries, and we will be notified by email to study the results.

Bronwen Cunningham spoke to the June Financial Report. The major headline is that the school is on track to close with a surplus above $300K, which is significantly higher than projected. This fact helps us financially going into our building project. Bob Unger and Lucile Hicks moved the acceptance of the Financial Report and all in attendance approved.

Jan Baptist made the motion and Lucille Hicks seconded it to permit Alice Sheehan to act as alternate signatory for school checking account transactions. The VOTE on this decision was unanimous.

Will Gardner reported that we have officially purchased the school property. The demolition costs will be expensive because of the unknowns possibly discovered during the process. We are in good hands with Dave Scheltz overseeing any further offerings of bank tax credits to help us out.

With Cara Beller's recent leaving from the position of Development Director we are now in the process of analyzing our different needs of a Development Director. A discussion ensued with everyone offering thoughts on what this job description should entail in terms of time and tasks.

The Capital Campaign Report shows $2.75M total commitments for our demolition/building project. We continue to look for more possible donors. Board members are encouraged to bring any candidates to the school the coming year.

The board meeting was adjourned at 10:30 AM.