Élan Academy Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday December 15, 2021 at 6:00 PM
Location
Via Zoom Meeting Conference as per State of Louisiana Proclamation Number 2020-30
Phone Discussion (646) 558-8656;
Meeting ID: 825 6221 7713;
Password: NONE
Phone Discussion (646) 558-8656;
Meeting ID: 825 6221 7713;
Password: NONE
709 Park Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70114; (504) 619-9720; www.elanacademy.org
The matters listed are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair to be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may, in fact, be discussed. Other items not listed may be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. All agenda items are informational unless otherwise denoted, though all committee reports require a vote for acceptance. The meeting will be held on the campus of the school.
The matters listed are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair to be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may, in fact, be discussed. Other items not listed may be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law. All agenda items are informational unless otherwise denoted, though all committee reports require a vote for acceptance. The meeting will be held on the campus of the school.
Directors Present
D. Barnes (remote), D. Hoover (remote), D. Patin (remote), R. Watkins (remote), S. Brown (remote), T. Lewis (remote)
Directors Absent
A. Olatunji, A. Shabankareh, J. Stewart
Ex Officio Members Present
R. Carter (remote)
Non Voting Members Present
R. Carter (remote)
Guests Present
M. Clark (remote), Scott Radamaker (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
D. Patin called a meeting of the board of directors of Élan Academy Charter School to order on Wednesday Dec 15, 2021 at 6:06 PM.
C.
Approval of Today’s Meeting Agenda - Darren Patin (Voting)
R. Watkins made a motion to Approve agenda 12/15/2021.
D. Hoover seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
T. Lewis made a motion to approve the minutes from Board Meeting on 10-27-21.
R. Watkins seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report – Melanie Askew (Voting)
S. Brown made a motion to approve the minutes from Head of School Report.
T. Lewis seconded the motion.
School leader report discussion
Charter was renewed for 3 additional years
- The current policy charter states that if a charter went through a comprehensive renewal evaluation, they can no longer participate in one again. This can be problematic and we are urging NOLA-PS to re-evaluate this policy in specific regards to Elan b/c we entered the comprehensive renewal eval through no fault of our own.
- Human Resources
- Joined NOLA-PS hub
- Reimagine grant application with NSNO
- create a hub that will assist
- Human Resources
- Received grant from AT & T
- STEM grant awarded and will start coding club
Heavy in academic testing (LEAP 2025)
- completed LEAP 2025 practice tests
- students are completing I-ready and STEP assessments
Reviewed One App data
- Increased competition for students due to additional schools entering the One App
- Lusher (was not previously part of the One App process)
- Hynes opened a new campus
Elan's 1st winter concert is 12/16/2021
Dr. Askew showed us the new data dashboard
III. Governance
A.
Governance Committee Report - Darren Patin (Voting)
Met 12/13/2021
Covered Succession plan voting
Facilties
Darren spoke with NOPS Board President Ethan Ashley and our board member Nolan Marshall
- We need to know the status of our facilities - where will we be?
- We need to continue to press for Elan's facility needs
Strategic Planning
- Parent responses were generally favorable
- Awaiting teacher responses
- Hopefully have dates in late January- early February
Darren has identified tangible tasks for each committee designed to move Elan forward. He will circulate to all board members.
- Monthly staff appreciation from the Board
- Increase involvement/engagement with parents
- e.g., monthly newsletter
Vaccine Mandate
- NOPS will be making the announcement this week
- Students will be required to be vaccinated before Mardi Gras break; there will be exceptions (medical, religious, personal, etc...)
- We will vote on the vaccine mandate for all students at Elan
Algiers Economic Development Foundation
- We are attempting to get a meeting on the books with Rachel Shields to further market Elan and strengthen our bonds
- Jonathan has reached out to Freddie King and Troy Carter to meet with us
Dr. Radamaker has satisfied all compliance requirements
Liberty Banking customer service issues; we are considering more favorable banking issues
Roger will reach out to Gulf Coast and Whitney
Darren will reach out to Whitney to secure local vendors to see if we can identify someone to host a Q & A session in regards to vaccine concerns.
R. Watkins made a motion to approve the minutes from Governance Meeting on 12/13/2021.
D. Hoover seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
IV. Academic
A.
Academic Committee Report – Anane Olatunji (Voting)
D. Barnes made a motion to approve the minutes from December Academic Committee Meeting.
R. Watkins seconded the motion.
Academic Committee meeting met 12/14/2021.
Ms. Scoby and Ms. Burns attended the meeting
Brief discussion regarding entering minutes in Board on Track
- Discussion around strategic goals for the academic committee
- Everyone had an opportunity to share some drafts of goals
- Reviewed the 9/1/2020 document that had the goals and reviewed progress
- Discussed measurability of goals
- academic committee will focus on improving monitoring and oversight
- role of the academic committee is to help the board be more informed
- some of the goals aligned with Dr. Askew Clark's goals
- SPED, Literacy, teacher morale
- Blending goals into a comprehensive document
- Discussed measurability of goals
HoS was asked for some additional assessment data
V. Finance
A.
Finance Committee Report – Roger Watkins (Voting)
D. Hoover made a motion to approve the minutes from December Finance Report.
D. Barnes seconded the motion.
Finance report for December will be compiled and presented at January meeting
Banking relationships- customer service lack of responsiveness
Roger will be reaching out to other banks
- Would like a bank that is committed to a donation each year and/or event sponsorship
- Currently, Liberty Bank does neither
- Considering Whitney and Gulf Coast
- both are good community banks and are convenient
- Check scanners
Plan to have this process completed by January's meeting
VI. Development
A.
Development Committee Report – Tiffany Lewis (Voting)
R. Watkins made a motion to approve the minutes from the December Development Committee Report.
D. Barnes seconded the motion.
Year end giving
- 30% of annual giving comes between Thanksgiving and New Years (esp. end of December)
- Engaging on social media
- asking Board to utilize posts to encourage giving
- Giving Tuesday marks the beginning of "Giving Season", begins 11/28
Board Giving
- suggested increasing Board member giving from 10k to 15k (give or get)
- Tiffany would like all board members to commit to asking 10 people to give $20
- Darren will put this as a resolution
Dr. Scott Rademaker will be joining the Development Committee
VII. Additional Business
A.
Old Business
B.
New Business - Darren Patin
Completed the HoS succession plan
Needs to be voted into policy
Next step is to develop a Board succession plan.
R. Watkins made a motion to approve the Head of School Succession Plan.
S. Brown seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
S. Brown made a motion to Authorize the Head of School to prepare a letter to Dr. Kanter requesting that the COVID-19 vaccine be added to the mandatory immunization list for all students, 5 years of age and older, with exemptions for philosophical, medical, or religious reasons.
R. Watkins seconded the motion.
Discussion of NOLA- PS vaccine mandate guidelines
- NOLA-PS seeks to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the mandatory immunization list for all students 5 years of age and older
- NOLA- PS is asking for letters of school support from individual schools
- Parents can seek exemption for philosophical, medical, or religious reasons
VIII. Closing Items
A.
Chairman's Remarks
B.
Adjourn Meeting
D. Hoover made a motion to Adjourn.
R. Watkins seconded the motion.
The board VOTED 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 7:17 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
D. Barnes