No public comments were made. 

Theo moved to go into closed session. Kim seconded. The board moved into closed session so Ellie could update up on legal matters. The board agreed that moving forward, resolutions of all formal grievances should be accompanied by signed release forms. Closed session items being resolved, Keely moved to come out of closed session, Theo seconded, and the motion to come out of closed session passed unanimously. 

Ellie presented the board with a draft of the revised Strategic Plan. The board suggested only minor revisions.

Academic Update:

• MAP Testing – April / May
• mClass Testing – May 6 - 28
• EOG Testing Window – May 6 – June 7th

Personnel and Staffing Update:

Positions to be filled:

• 6th grade Teacher – Final 2 candidates - on site visits in progress
• K Teacher – Candidate Screening and 1st Round of Interviews scheduled Connected World – part-time – potential final candidate
• Art – ES – part-time – potential final candidate
• Instructional Coach – part-time
• One New EC position is projected to be added to meet the increase in EC needs

Operations:

• Board approval is requested to install a ceiling at the MS on 1st floor to reduce noise and improve safety. Estimated cost is $17,940.
• Additional door code keypads will be ordered to allow for access on 2nd floor and lower level by parking lot. This will allow teachers access to building without disrupting other classes when they enter and exit. Estimated cost would be $3,765.06. Ellie should be able to proceed with this work, without board approval.
• May 1st – school closing – 29 teachers submitted leave requests as of 4/11/19 to participate in the education march in Raleigh. Optional teacher workday.

Ellie noted that the Finance committee was working on developing policy for at what dollar amount ED needs board approval for expenditures. 

Cory Draughan from Charter Success was at the meeting to update the board on its financial statements and budgets. 

The Finance committee met to review 2019-2019 budget year to date expenditures and project future impacts. Based on YTD activity, we are projecting an end of year surplus of $78,154.11. The Board should begin discussions about how to allocate the EOY surplus. The balance sheet and income statement along with the YTD budget report are attached for your review. The budget report has been reformatted to improve readability.

The Finance committee met on 4/3 to discuss the projections for 2019- 2020, and this budget first draft is also attached for your review and discussion. The projected surplus is estimated to be $ 15,076.31 which assumes $100,000 in revenue from annual fund contributions.

 

ACCESS grant (up to $600,000) will be announced in May or June. 

Tom asked about developing a plan for teacher bonuses. Ellie responded that the Finance committee would develop a policy about how to handle bonuses form the state, when/if received.

In discussion, we agreed to vote on a final budget in June. 

Sonja McKay presented the updated Business Plan for the EdEx Collaborative, attached.

We were all very enthusiastic about the proposal. Kim suggested that we make it clearer in the proposal what the Professional Development (PD) "deliverables" will be in order to market it more effectively.  Tom suggested asking for other similar organizations' budgets to get a more accurate idea of costs.  Ellie reminded the board that we need to decide in May because schools make PD plans for upcoming school year in Summer. Bob and Christine noted that this organization could actually fuel fundraising. 

Kimberly updated the board on the PTO fundraising. She reminded us of the family picnic this Saturday. PTO is working to fill all officer positions next year. 

Bob hopes to have an update next month because he thinks the development company will have an update on investors at that point. 

George expressed the concerns that the fundraising agenda needs to move beyond just raising money for the building. The group wholeheartedly agreed. He is taking over the committee as Chair when Kim rolls off at end of June. 

The governance committee fielded a survey to gauge parent opinion on conducting background checks for volunteers, attached. Governanace hopes to present a recommendation on this by May or June.

Camesha urged us all to push contacts to send resumes to Camesha and Kelly by 5/15, so we can make new board member recommendations (for five openings) by May board meeting.  We still have a clear need for finance. 

Tom and Camesha are considering a new board meeting schedule also to be presented in May. 

At this month's Equity and Diversity Committee meeting, we discussed:

• Update on ACCESS grant content - committee members involved reflected on this process and updated the rest of the group
• Additional opportunities to engage families (esp. new families) - Summer play dates, book reads, etc.
• PTO support - Melissa will connect with them to continue our relationship with event planning and fundraising over the summer
• Lunch program - how can we raise more money, since Spicy Green is not working out

Items for May:

• EdEx
• New Board Members
• 2019-2020 budget
• Governance policy updates
• Facilities