Cold Spring School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday July 20, 2016 at 5:00 PM
Directors Present
B. Albano
Directors Absent
None
Guests Present
C. Bruns, Cheryl Hertzer
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B. Albano called a meeting of the board of directors of Cold Spring School to order on Wednesday Jul 20, 2016 at 5:00 PM.
II. OLD BUSINESS
A.
Community Opportunity for Input
Members present were:
Bob Albano, Carrie Bruns, Chris Gerrity, Cheryl Hertz, Janice Hicks-Slaughter, Lori Schein, Tonya Tudor
Members Absent were Leroy Robinson and Steve Downing.
No community members had signed in to provide input.
B.
Approve Minutes
C.
Background Checks for all Members
Board members were reminded to obtain criminal background check. Information about how to obtain the background check was sent to board members via email.
Mr. James Preston did not join the board. Mrs. Kelly Payne will join and will be asked to take the role of board treasurer. Mr. Leroy Robinson will join the board. It was noted that Mr. Robinson had not received email notices of Board meetings due to a change in his email address.
Motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 03-02-16.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
III. NEW BUSINESS
A.
SCHOOL UPDATE- PRINCIPALS REPORT
Cold Spring School principal Mrs. Carrie Bruns provided a school update.
- Mrs. Bruns distributed copies of the school budget for 2016-2017, Board Policies, and the Staff Handbook.
- Mrs. Bruns explained various line items in the budget.
- IPS will continue to provide numerous school services, while others will be provided by new vendors.
- The budget includes money allocated to staff bonuses, and the board will determine how to use these funds.
- School enrollment is currently at 277 students, while the projected enrollment in the budget was 250 students.
- The school is completely staffed
- Teachers will participate in Responsive Classroom training for four days at the end of July and one follow up professional development day in spring 2017.
- The first day of school for students is August 1, 2016
- The Indiana Department of Natural Resources will provide one day of professional development in "Project Learning Tree" for Cold Spring School staff in September.
- The Professional Learning Community (PLC) focus for teacher professional development will be on how to teach writing.
- Mrs. Bruns provided an overview of Responsive Classroom, which focuses on development of social-emotional skills and includes discipline, positive teacher language, monitoring meeting and closing meeting
On August 29th, Mr. Bob Albano will speak to the staff of Cold Spring School on behalf of the school board. Donuts and Coffee will be provided to the staff on that morning.
B.
EVALUATION PROCESS/GROWTH
Evaluation processes were discussed.
- Mrs. Bruns will continue to use RISE for teacher evaluation during 2016-2017. The TAP system may be adopted in future years.
- The school will be evaluated and will receive a letter, which will be based on student growth and attendance. The overall passing rate will not will not be used to calculate the letter grade for the next three years.
- The CSS Board will be responsible for evaluating school principal, Mrs. Carrie Bruns.
Mr. Bob Albano submitted a letter of commendation to the CSS Board for Mrs. Carrie Bruns and the work she has accomplished in transitioning Cold Spring School to an IPS Innovation School. Mrs. Bruns noted that students at Cold Spring School will not see much change, but they will have more opportunities this year.
A motion was made and seconded to submit the letter of commendation to Mrs. Bruns' personnel file. The CSS Board voted unanimously to add the letter to her file.
IV. ACTION ITEMS
A.
2016-2017 School Budget
A motion was made and seconded to approve the Cold Spring School budget for 2016-2017. The Board voted unanimously to approve the budget.
B.
Staff Policy Handbook
The Board reviewed the three handbooks: the Staff Handbook, the Student Handbook, and the CSS Board Policies.
Parents must sign a statement to acknowledge that they have received a copy of the Student Handbook.
Mrs. Bruns will continue to post notices of CSS Board meetings on the main office window at the school.
Cold Spring School hours for students are from 8:30am until 4:00pm.
Motion to Approve the Staff Handbook.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Student Policy Handbook
A copy of the Student Handbook was circulated and a discussion was held about it, focusing on the reintroduction of the point system for student behavior management. A student receives a point or points for each referral or suspension. If a student accumulates 30 points, then he or she must withdraw from Cold Spring School and attend his/her boundary school.
Motion to Approve the Student Handbook.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
V. COMMITTEES
A.
Teacher Retirement Fund
The Teacher Retirement Fund was discussed.
Motion to continue to provide employer pick up of the mandatory member contribution to INPRS (Indiana Public Retirement System).
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Board Input
Mr. Bob Albano provided information from Board on Track to the Board about committees for "Defining Governance and Management" and "Role of the Academic Excellence Committee."
The Mind Trust is planning a "kick-off" for Cold Spring School on Back to School Night on August 17, 2016 at 5:30pm. Invitees to the kick-off will include Dr. Lewis Ferebee, Mayor Joe Hogsett, Mr. Dan Elsener, and the Cold Spring Board.
VI. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
Motion to Adjourn the meeting.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:10 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
C. Bruns
Documents used during the meeting
None