No comments were made.

Efforts are being made to get changes to House Bill 10.  At this time, excused absences still have to be reported as absences. All notes from parents need to be saved and scanned in to the computerized attendance system. 

There were no items of concern with the monthly financial conference call.

The monthly site visit  was conducted early in December; everything was compliant. A Special Education compliance visit was conducted the same day.  The reviewer was impressed at MPA Staff's preparedness.

Let it be noted that the Board appreciates all the Staff's hard work with the Special Education paperwork.

Although we have not met the enrollment goal to date, we are not in a financial loss position.
 

The financial audit for the 2016-2017 fiscal year should be done earlier than that for the previous year. It might be completed in early February. 

There are a lot of project closeout and end-of-calendar-year items in process at the present time. When these are complete we will be able to make more accurate estimates of expenses for the rest of this fiscal year.  Dave Massa hopes that we will be able to have accurate numbers by the January board meeting.

There have been a lot of well-attended school events in the past month including Grandfriends' Day, Veteran's Day concert, and the Thanksgiving Feast.  There have also been several field trips.
Processes have been implemented to streamline enrollment and paperwork.

No field trips were uploaded for approval.

Stacy ensures that the requirements for the stipends are completed before authorizing the stipends to be paid. 

Dave Panell and Frank O'Grady went to the school meals training in Columbus.  We can start the food program midyear, although there may be some special conditions. A lunch program specialist will come out and walk us through the steps to implement the program. Additional staff may be required to handle the paperwork required with a lunch program.

$12,000 is still outstanding from the 2016-2017 school year material fees. Dave Massa will be ensuring these families are contacted to make payment.  

$98,000 is still outstanding for the 17/18 school fees. 

The original first-choice candidate for the Administrative Manager position declined the job. 3 additional candidates have been recently  interviewed and the best-fit candidate identified. Conversations with this individual will continue.

Melissa Vlasak, on behalf of the board, would like to extend her appreciation to the staff for their hard work on providing regular enrollment reports to the DCRC this year.

It was requested that these full reports be uploaded for the full board's information.

The board extends their appreciation to all those who helped with the Winter Concert.  The final revenue number has not been determined as checks are still coming in for donations. Plans are being made to ensure multiple people are aware of what is involved in planning and running this event. Lessons learned this year have been written down for future reference. MPA should be implementing a plan to encourage end-of-year giving.

Leadership and next steps for the Capital Campaign Committee have been discussed by the DCRC. The budget numbers need to be reconciled. There needs to be a focus on the Capital Campaign to fulfill our obligations to funders. A $25,000 donation to the Capital Campaign was made this week. Our fundraising staff have not been adequate to run the Annual Fund and the Capital Campaign.  

Various job descriptions have been updated to reflect the jobs currently being done.

The lenders are concerned about the condition of the old Administration building.  The Landmarks Commission has given approval to demolish it as long as significant work is done to preserve its history. This may impact the plans for a field house. There is an option of moving the land and building into a separate parcel and selling it, but this would put restrictions on us in the future. The general feeling of the board is to retain the land for the school's use. 

Policies and procedures regarding how the school space is used for student education need to be developed. A staff committee will be established to engage in conversation about how we meld the original vision for the space with the practical application of teaching in the school.  

An order for furnishings and educational equipment has been placed and shipments are arriving. It would be helpful to share pictures of these items with the families so they see the progress in equipping the school.

The committee has suggested modifications in the key results to eliminate duplication and add deadlines. 

PEC is working on clarifying the policy for gifted endorsement reimbursement.