MPA Latha Srinivasan voiced concern for the use of Rosetta Stone for foreign language instruction. Mrs. Srinivasan believes that there is a lack of engagement with students and foreign language due to the absence of a foreign language instructor in the lower school classrooms. Mrs. Srinivasan requested that the board talk with administrators to reconsider using the software for next school year.

Fraser arrived late, 6:11 pm

The sponsor did not provide a monthly update at this time.

The monthly financial statements were not uploaded at this time.

Dave Massa provided a summary of the March financial statements:
     -FTEs are up to 406 
     -Year to date income is still positive
     -There is a slight deficit that does not cause concern

The board requested that revenue and expenses be entered into the appropriate specific accounts. The large entry in miscellaneous revenue needs to be specified further or coded correctly.

The board members expressed confusion over signing off on a payment approval report when payments are already processed and requested a change in procedure. Dave Massa suggested options to revise this process, such as only having Board members vote and sign off on special approvals or items exceeding $10,000.

Audit is expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks.

The 5 year forecast is expected to be completed by May 2017.

Dr. Nylajean McDaniel provided a summary of her Director's Report attached to this agenda.

Dr. McDaniel reassured everyone that the issues with testing access were resolved.
 

Julie Ganim requested expectations from the board for her director's report. The board provided example topics for the next board report:
        -Monthly financial statement
        -Specifics about enrollment
        -DCRC update
        -IT update
        -Facility update
        -Great successes and/or blocks
        -Healthcare vendor update
 

No report provided at this time.

The following policy decisions needed to be made in order to adopt the policies attached to the meeting's agenda:

1.) Instructional services provided to out of school suspension. The board needed to decide if MPA would or would not offer instructional support to suspended students. The board decided that MPA will not provide instructional services to suspended students, but suspended students will have opportunity to make up work per absence policy.

2.) Whether MPA will honor unused teacher PTO in the form of payment. The board decided that MPA will honor 3 days of sick leave from previous school district during the first year of teaching at MPA.

$50,000 of 2016-2017 school year student fees are still outstanding. Dave Massa has information on who has outstanding fees and for what. Parents will be contacted to pay.

Suzanne McFarland summarized the reports that were uploaded to Board on Track.

Suzanne McFarland and Doug Thompson will be sending out a letter to the MPA community to address the technology issues experienced during testing.

Fraser Hamilton gave staff the opportunity to visit the new building. Most teachers embraced the new space.

Christian Long and Brian Knight worked with teachers last week. There was a lot of teacher engagement during the event. The next professional development day is on May 1st.

Cathie Leimbach highlighted the revisions (i.e. aides, technology) made to the budget since the March board meeting. Suzanne asked for clarification of the PD budget.

Melissa Vlasak summarized the attached document.

No update provided at this time.

The board requested further brainstorming in order to achieve MPA's Capital Campaign goals.

No update to report.

Julie Ganim reported that BVU suggests there not be term limits for board service as this can result in the loss of a highly contributing board member with valuable organizational knowledge. She believes that action needs to be taken to eliminate the maximum years for a board member's service.

Cathie Leimbach provided a summary of the search process so far. Although 87 applicants applied, MPA is only currently interested in 16 of them. The Search Team is currently waiting for 5 of these applicants to provide their Educational Philosophy statement. The Search Team will schedule phone interviews with 8 candidates within the following days. Within two weeks, the Search Team will decide on which applicants will be receiving in-person interviews. All Board members are asked to attend the second in-person interviews on May 8 and 9.

Fraser Hamilton summarized the facility update provided in BOT, especially noting that the building is 40% complete.

Cathie Leimbach summarized the KRA report as uploaded to BOT and requested that everyone complete this chart for their KRAs prior to each board meeting.

Doug Thompson and Suzanne McFarland are working with the Program Excellence Committee and MPA staff to discuss ways that MPA can help the MPA community, especially students, transition into the new building.

Suzanne McFarland summarized the technology issues encountered during testing. She plans to send an updated audit report to board members via email.

See attached document in BOT. Suzanne McFarland requested that the board members provide question topics for the survey.