El Camino Real Charter High School's Anderson Hall, 5440 Valley Circle Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
REGULAR AND ANNUAL BOARD MEETING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESENTATIONS
TO THE BOARD BY PARENTS AND CITIZENS
El Camino Real Alliance (“ECRA”) welcomes your participation at ECRA’s Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Directors (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of ECRA in public. Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our charter school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/participating in our meetings, the following guidelines are provided:
Agendas are available to all audience members at the door to the meeting.
“Request to Speak” forms are available to all audience members who wish to speak on any agenda items or under the general category of “Oral Communications.” “Oral Communications” is set aside for members of the audience to raise issues that are not specifically on the agenda. However, due to public meeting laws, the Board can only listen to your issue, not respond or take action. These presentations are limited to three (3) minutes and total time allotted to non-agenda items will not exceed fifteen (15) minutes. The Board may give direction to staff to respond to your concern or you may be offered the option of returning with a citizen-requested item.
You may also complete a “Request to Speak” form to address the Board on Agenda items. With regard to such agenda items, you may specify that agenda item on your “Request to Speak” form and you will be given an opportunity to speak for up to three (3) minutes.
When addressing the Board, speakers are requested to state their name and adhere to the time limits set forth.
Any public records relating to an agenda item for an open session of the Board which are distributed to all, or a majority of all, of the Board members shall be available for public inspection at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills, California, 91367
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and upon request, El Camino Real Alliance may furnish reasonable auxiliary aids and services to qualified individuals with disabilities. Individuals who require appropriate alternative modification of the agenda in order participate in Board meetings are invited to contact the Executive Director’s office.
Agenda
I.
Opening Items
Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Pledge of Allegiance
D.
Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items and Agenda Items
Discuss and Vote Amendment to Previously Filed Minutes
Staff recommends approval. This amends the May 18th Board Minutes. There were some errors with IV.E Discuss and Vote Cancelling Travel to the National Charter School Confernence in Tennessee. Below is part of the correction with additional language added at meeting:
O. Slamon made a motion to approve to cancel all reservations made by any of the Board members or staff to attend the Charter School Conference in Tennessee at a cost of nearly $4500.00. Odus Caldwell seconded the motion. The motion unanimously did not carry. ... Roll Call: Jackie Keene (Absent), Obie Slamon (Abstain), Dennis Thompson (Absent), Larry Rubin (Absent), Odus Caldwell (Abstain), Peter Vastenhold (Abstain) ... All Board members abstained
B.
Committee Updates
C.
Discuss and Elect 2016/17 Board Secretary
IV.
Financials
Facility
A.
Update: May and June Financial Update by EdTec
EdTec is ECR's back office provider. They perform some compliance functions and compile the school's financial reports.
B.
Update: CFO
Presented by the Chief Business Officer. Topics include:
LAUSD's rent calculation for ECR and the former Miguel Leonis - reviews the calculation methodology.
New property update - the business group is exploring another property for expansion. It is currently working with Pacific Charter School Development to see if this is a property we would like to possibly purchase by the end of this year.
FCMAT update - the ECRA Board approved the hiring of FCMAT last February to review new internal controls and policies to make sure the school is addressing concerns in the October Notice to Cure. Due to scheduling issues, the FCMAT review was moved to September.
Budget update - the financial expectations for the 2016-17 school year should be lowered by a number of factors, such as LAUSD's request to reduce enrollment from 3,800 to 3,600, and an increase in operational infrastructure to satisfy LAUSD's requested changes. These changes may result in significant changes for 2017-18 school year.
Benchmark update - ECR will compare operational efficiencies against other organizations.
V.
School and Policies
Development
A.
Review and Vote 2016-17 Food Service Vendor Selection - Chartwells
Staff recommends a food vendor switch from Revolution Foods to Chartwells. Four food vendors, Chartwells, Revolution Foods, Sodexo and Bevaris, applied for the 2016-17 academic school year. Decision was based on applications, survey results and financial impact.
Staff recommends approval. The business group worked with The Setup HR, an HR consulting firm, to prepare the handbook. It will be primarily used by classified and administrators. It will provide guidance for the teachers where the issues have not been addressed in the collective bargaining agreement.
Staff recommends approval. This is for small item sales sold by club, groups and organizations that supports ECRA and its communities. Melanie Horton would be designated to oversee these other sales. For example, Friends of ECR would sell backpacks to students with funds being transferred to a Trust account and possibly to the organization's own account. ECR would charge 15% of gross sales to cover sales tax and labor. Friends of ECR supports ECRA by funding school related programs.
D.
Discuss and Approve Walsworth as the New Yearbook Vendor
Staff recommends approval. The new yearbook teacher, Samantha Lasarow, has had a positive experience with Walsworth in the past. Ms. Lasarow requested bids from Herff Jones, our previous vendor, and Jostens. Walsworth is cheaper than Herff Jones and it offers phone video features.
E.
Review and Vote Film Stipend
Staff recommends approval. This film stipend is for 2015-16 and all future years. This was accepted by both UTLA and ECRA. The amount is $3,000 and is payable after the fall and spring semesters.
Review and Vote International Student Agreement and Forms
Staff recommends approval. These forms will used for the international student program by the Executive Director's administrator's designee (e.g. Lead Assistant Principal, David Hussey). For 2016/17, the school will charge $11,500 per full-year students ($1,000 for breakfast and lunch, $10K for educational fee and $500 for other costs like yearbook, school activities, travel, extra administrative costs, etc.), and $6,000 per half-year students (($500 for breakfast and lunch, $5K for educational fee and $500 for other costs like yearbook, school activities, travel, extra administrative costs, etc.). ECR will target about 100 FTE students per year, not to exceed 5% of the total population. The typical student enrolling are in the upper grades which helps the school in the upper grades as students transfer to other schools or enroll in alternative programs (e.g. independent study).
Discuss and Vote Keeping the Pacific Western Bank Account for ESCRIP transfers
Staff recommends approval. Over the years, several organizations set up eScrip accounts to fundraise for their organizations. At this time, we do not want to cancel this bank account to prevent fundraising disruptions.
About eScrip:
Introduced by Electronic Scrip Inc. (ESI), the eScrip program is a fundraising program that allows participating merchants to contribute a percentage of your grocery loyalty cards, credit card, and debit card purchases to the school or nonprofit of your choice. eScrip offers all the benefits of paper-based fundraising programs (or “scrip”), but with an automated ease-of-use and expanded merchant offering. For streamlined, year-round fundraising that is easy to use, eScrip is the best fundraising tool in the toolbox. eScrip partners with merchants who give back a percentage of purchases made by you to the organizations you care about. Purchases are tracked through registered cards (store loyalty, credit/debit) or simply thru your supporter ID on the Online Mall.
I.
Discuss and Vote Purchase of Technology Upgrades by CTO
Staff recommends approval. The 2016/17 budget allocated $700K for non-capitalized equipment. Most of those funds have been earmarked for classroom modernization and student computers under the Local Control Accountability Plan. The CTO is asking to spend $50K from Data Link Networks, a preferred vendor of LAUSD, to replace the existing server (existing one is 18 years old). He is also seeking to spend another $325K ($235K will be sourced from ERate) for a LAN refresh (existing one is 20 years old).
The CTO will be available for questions.
J.
Update: Technology
Microsoft Surface Pros status and roll-out.
School website, including board page.
Changes in Aries and ERP.
K.
Update: President's Report
Presented by the Lead Assistant Principal. Topics include:
WASC and Program Improvement update - This will also include an information update by Lisa Ring
ECRA & UTLA versus LAUSD regarding retirees - No new developments. Melanie Horton can provide a status update.
Oracle update. Information was provided to Oracle to start the investigation. Janelle Ruley can provide any new developments.
