Seaside School, Inc
Minutes
March Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday March 14, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Location
Seacoast Collegiate High School (Learning Cottages)
109 Greenway Trail
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459
Founded in 1996
Serving Students in Grades 5 - 12
We seek to sustain an educational community where an emphasis on academic excellence is complemented by our concern for each learner’s personal growth and intellectual, aesthetic, and psychological development. The curriculum is developmentally responsive – actively engaging students in learning skills in context, integrative – directing students to connect learning to daily lives, and exploratory – enabling students to discover their abilities, interests, learning styles, and ways that they can make contributions to society.
Information on procedures for public comment can be found at https://www.seasideschools.net/domain/35.
If anyone needs special assistance to participate in the public input session, every effort will be made to provide an appropriate accommodation. When requesting accommodations for public input, please allow no less than 1 business day notice prior to the scheduled meeting.
Specific issues about a particular student should only be addressed to the school’s Director of Student Services, rather than the Board of Directors.
All public comments will be taken under advisement by the Board, but will not elicit a written or spoken response. The names of persons providing public comment and a brief summary of topics or input will be included in the meeting minutes published. A response will be provided to the stakeholder within seven (7) days.
Directors Present
A. Jordan, A. Winicki, C. Lewis, D. Lilienthal, D. Tinghitella, G. Latour, J. O’Donoghue, J. Ward, K. Tucker, L. Blue, M. Kerrigan, R. Kauffman, T. Brooks
Directors Absent
F. Brown, M. Uhlfelder
Guests Present
K. Mixson, M. Willcox, T. Miller
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
D.
Consent Agenda
II. Development
A.
High School Expansion
High School Expansion Update-M. Kerrigan-On site construction is mobilizing. Work should start any day. Right now we are still on track for August 2025 completion. GMP pricing-we're expecting first week in April.
B.
Brand Standard Adoption
M. Kerrigan went over the details of the adoption of the brand standard for THE SEASIDE SCHOOL, INC., Seaside Neighborhood School and Seacoast Collegiate High School.
C.
Updates
M. Kerrigan - No update on the LDA. SEDC did communicate with people who have interest in properties around the Lyceum that they would be scheduling meetings with all parties to discuss future plans. Hope to see movement on the performing arts center and LDA soon.
Marketing - Now that the race is over, the focus is on the capital campaign.
Race Update- (provided by M. Kerrigan) The race went well. The net was approximately $540,000, slightly down from last year. Total revenue was approximately $892,000.
III. Executive Committee
A.
Triumph Grant
R. Kauffman- the school is stepping into more obligation, being the primary tenant under the lease. It will all run through the school. We are consistent with the charter. The foundation will provide documents from previous discussions and assist the school, and they will execute future documents and coordinate with the college and provide updates. They will execute further documents and take further action as needed to help us achieve compliance and fulfill the terms under the lease. Someone asked if the college had weighed in on this and K. Tucker replied -that they had not responded, but we got a verbal agreement that they would support this. Their board meeting is at the end of the month. This is all contingent on their approval as well as the foundation's approval. The motion is contingent on NWFSC and the Foundation Board's approval.
K. Tucker - the current grant writing contract with Liberty expired mid-February. We were introduced to TSG advisors in Tallahassee. The college has done a lot of work with them.
L. Blue - we will have to run through solicitation and proposals because we are under state procurement.
M. Kerrigan confirmed it is in place and will run through development.
K. Tucker - they have done a lot of grants with NWFSC but not specifically with Triumph.
J. Ward - encouraged everyone to look at their website and the link is in the document. We need someone who can write grants who understands the education system so that we can maximize our potential grants.
IV. Finance
A.
Financials
T. Miller went over finance. We are still on track to have a surplus of $121,000. Our team is going through line by line. By April, we should have a true budget.
B.
SCHS Expansion
K. Tucker - we had an application for $9 million, and we received $500,000. We've been getting some better news from the banks (2 local banks) with up to $25 million. Both were willing to do it and the rates were decent (mid to high 6 range) with a 25-year amortization, all the things we were asking for, like flexible payments. Raymond James came back with a 4.9 % rate with a 30-year amortization, 15 year fixed for a $25 million dollar loan. No term sheet yet, we are meeting with roundtable tomorrow. The news is good. There is interest and capacity for bond financing. In conjunction with that, making some of the tough decisions on how to spend the money and whether we start the accelerator now. It would be roughly a $7 million dollar savings.
L. Blue - the industry is seeing a increase in supplies and a shortage of work, prices are falling, and hopefully the contractors can seize on that.
J. Brooks - What does the college say about waiting on the accelerator?
J. Ward- I think the college would prefer doing it all at once, but we have some lead way.
V. Governance
A.
Bylaws Review and Vote
R. Kauffman - Gave a reminder that a questionnaire was sent out a week ago and asked members to please fill it out. New legal counsel for the school: Tom had conducted several interviews, and we are going with The Arnold Law Firm out of Jacksonville. We need to review the agreement and bring it to the board for approval next month.
A copy of the proposed provisions to the bylaws was gone over for discussion and feedback, and it will also be on the agenda next month for approval including: changing the chairman's term from one year to two years, to have more consistency and to coincide with the four-year board member terms. Also, to change the bylaws to be consistent with what we're doing, the board selection committee can choose as few as one alternate, the size of the board was discussed, pausing at thirteen (the current size of the board). Future boards can decide to move up or down, but keep it now at thirteen rather than going down to eleven.
B.
Selection Subcommittee: Board of Directors Nominations
C. Lewis-We had interviews on the 20th and would like a motion to approve Megan Harrison, Dana Hahn and Casey King for the 2024-2025 Board of Directors.
K. Tucker asked if they were naming an alternate. R. Kauffman- it would be prudent to have one.
VI. School Leadership Team
A.
Executive Director Updates
T. Miller-We had the National Honors Society Induction Ceremony today. About 70% of tenth graders were new inductees. A new video that was just sent over by Bobby was played for everyone (a promotional video promoting the Seaside Schools. Budgeting, grants, fundraising and evaluating all third party contracts were discussed. Miller went over enrollment numbers for next year and that people are still applying at the high school level. SNS traffic for the afternoon pickup seems to be better.
B.
Principal Updates
K. Mixson-Sea Perch teams (high school and middle school) are competing tomorrow. RCA Global Amazing Shake, four finalists from the middle school are going with Serena and Dana. Robyn Wallace has done an amazing job with grants this year. A STEM Grant that was written last year received $9,000, and it covered graphing calculators for the high school and also helped to cover the 8th grade trip to the Kennedy Space Center.
T. Miller for D. Ward- 41 graduates are members of the National Honors Society, 33 seniors have industrial certifications, 98% of Mrs. Robbins entrepreneurial class have passed their cert test recently. Graduation plans have been set. Drew will be the keynote speaker. Our goal in April is to meet with all the new families and have the grad plan and all expectations known.
VII. Foundation
A.
Foundation Report
T. Horton was not here. Foundation updates were discussed during Development.
VIII. Student Excellence
A.
Digital/Print Item Request
J. O'Donoghue- Digital items to be purchased were reviewed by administration and the student excellence committee. The teacher will get a login and password to use those resources for instructional purposes, books for 8th grade graduates, the spanish classes and classes at Seaside.
B.
Articulation Agreement
T. Miller-We're maintaining the 3.0 GPA requirement and limiting the number of virtual classes that can be taken.
J. O' Donoghue discussed internships. We have thirteen students who have completed the survey, and we have secured a place for eleven. Still working on finding a place for the last two.
IX. Other Business
A.
Other Business
R. Kauffman, M. Kerrigan and K. Tucker discussed the opportunity to merge the two boards (foundation and school). It would take time and planning to get there over the next couple of years, but it is worth consideration.
T. Miller-climate surveys will go out in April to employees, students and families. Also, SNS drop off for the mornings was discussed and how we can make it better.
R. Kauffman and K. Tucker discussed board surveys.
New Employee-Annie Sheets, High School Intervention
2024-2025 School Calendar
February Financials