Élan Academy Charter School
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday March 23, 2022 at 6:00 PM
Location
Elan Academy
709 Park Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70114
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
A. Olatunji, D. Barnes, D. Hoover, D. Patin, J. Stewart, R. Watkins
Directors Absent
A. Shabankareh, E. Marrero-Savoie, G. Thomas-Batiste, S. Brown, S. Rademaker
Guests Present
M. Clark
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approval of Today’s Meeting Agenda - Darren Patin (Voting)
II. Head of School Report
A.
Head of School Report – Melanie Askew (Voting)
NOLA-PS
Discussion regarding the results of the school's inspection:
Staircase:
- report indicated that one staircase in the main building requires demolition and a rebuild
- the staircase has been closed off and will need a forensic demolition
Discussion regarding cafeteria and transportation services for 2022-23 school year:
- Genuine Foods will be our food vendor for the summer
- RFP for next year's janitorial service has been opened
School Calendar
- will start later due to building transition; students will be on a staggered start
- August 15th or 22nd
- Pre-k and K, and all new students will start earlier than other students for assimilation, preparation for Elan, and testing
- Louisiana Student of the year semi-finalist gift of flowers, gift card, and trophy
- Maker's Market Fair will take place at Elan on 4/9/2022
III. Governance
A.
Governance Committee Report - Darren Patin (Voting)
Facility status:
Elan will transition to the Fisher campus
Johnathan, Darren and Melanie spoke with NOLA- PS to develop time line, list of needs
Next Steps- Formal Needs Assessment
IT, Furniture, Repairs, Termite assessment, Kitchen/Cafeteria etc.
Current:20 classrooms/ 25 children/ class (500 seats)
Line of Credit:
Collegiate has a LOC they have used and we are to assume that LoC agreement (2% deductible which was 300k)
NOLA-PS representative stated she needed to get additional information
Initially for repair from Hurricane Ida
Retrofit the building for energy reduction (Gulf Coast Enterprises)
Melanie spoke w/ rep from Entergy regarding the utility costs, but there is not significant savings
Entergy Smart 150k/year
Anniversary Event- May 7th from 10pm-1pm @ Compass Point on Opelousas (Old Algiers)
Champagne Brunch
$75 pp
$50 pp 9Faculty/Staff)
Board will sell 5 tickets a piece (55 tickets)
Considerations: Elan Academy Choir performing
Head of School Report input due on March 31, 2022
Discussed Vendor Contracts: Janitorial and Food Services
IV. Academic
A.
Academic Committee Report – Anane Olatunji (Voting)
Met on 3/8/2022
Restructuring committee
Will present update on Achievement Gaps at April Meeting after reviewing the new data
Mr. Patin discussed the Anniversary Celebration during Governance report