Menlo Park Academy Governing Board

Minutes

Board Working Session

Date and Time

Thursday September 1, 2022 at 6:00 PM

Location

Menlo Park Academy 

2149 W. 53rd Street

Cleveland, OH 44102

Directors Present

Shruti Aring, Susan Dornan, Suzanne McFarland, Teri Harrison, Tiffany Randle, Twana Rogers

Directors Absent

None

Directors who arrived after the meeting opened

Twana Rogers

Guests Present

Geoffrey Belanger, Phyllis Robinson, Sh'Annon Caldwell, Stephanie Teaford

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

Teri Harrison called a meeting of the board of directors of Menlo Park Academy Governing Board to order on Thursday Sep 1, 2022 at 6:12 PM.

II. Executive Session

A.

Executive Session

Susan Dornan made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session at 6:13pm to prepare for and review negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.

A roll call vote was taken. Geoffrey Belanger, Stephanie Teaford, and Sh'Annon Caldwell were invited to join the session.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Suzanne McFarland
Aye
Susan Dornan
Aye
Geoffrey Belanger
Aye
Teri Harrison
Aye
Twana Rogers
Absent
Tiffany Randle
Aye
Shruti Aring
Aye
Twana Rogers arrived at 6:26 PM.

The board exited Executive Session at 8:07pm.

III. Action Items

A.

New Hires

Suzanne McFarland made a motion to hire Car Reitz as a teacher for an annual salary of $36,500 with a one-time signing bonus of $2,000.
Susan Dornan seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Suzanne McFarland made a motion to hire Gabriel Parish as a teacher for an annual salary of $36,500 with a one-time signing bonus of $2,000.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Shruti Aring made a motion to table the request for additional pay for an employee pending additional information.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Susan Dornan made a motion to hire April Dickson as a building substitute for an annual salary of $30,000 effective 9/2/2022.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Online Learning

Suzanne McFarland made a motion to authorize the purchase of 10 licenses of online learning modules for Mandarin 1 for a cost not to exceed $8,000.
Susan Dornan seconded the motion.

Discussion around the current teacher providing the course under the credit flex policy.

The motion unanimously did not carry.

C.

Installation

Geoffrey Belanger officially installed as a board member. 

D.

Materials

Suzanne McFarland made a motion to approve the purchase of equipment and materials from Nasco as presented for a cost not to exceed $3,000.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Suzanne McFarland made a motion to approve the purchase of Scholastic Studies Weekly for Science & Social Studies for grades K-5 as presented for a cost not to exceed $7,000.
Susan Dornan seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Susan Dornan made a motion to authorize the purchase of additional Singapore Math materials as presented for a cost not to exceed $1,000.
Suzanne McFarland seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

E.

Trip Transportation

Tiffany Randle made a motion to authorize the contracting of transportation for the field trip for 425 participants for a cost not to exceed $4,320.
Susan Dornan seconded the motion.

Discussion around how this experience will be tied to the program, if there are ways we can decrease the cost, and if we can get accurate numbers. 

The board VOTED to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Teri Harrison
Aye
Shruti Aring
Aye
Twana Rogers
Aye
Geoffrey Belanger
Aye
Susan Dornan
Aye
Suzanne McFarland
No
Tiffany Randle
Aye

F.

Resident Educator Proposal

Suzanne McFarland made a motion to engage the ESC of NEO to provide services for the resident educator program for the 22-23 school year for a cost not to exceed $4,500.
Tiffany Randle seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

G.

Sick Leave

Geoffrey Belanger made a motion to enable teaching staff members to use up to five (5) unearned sick days if they miss work and show a positive COVID-19 test result.
Shruti Aring seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. 22-23 OKRs & Goals

A.

2022-23 OKRs & Goals

Board discussed some options to set goals under the OKRs for this year. A survey to help prioritize will be sent to the board. Consider how we can have some big goals that touch several OKRs.

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 9:47 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Teri Harrison