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Élan Academy Charter School

Minutes

Elan Academy November Board Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday November 30, 2022 at 6:00 PM

Location

1801 L. B. Landry 

New Orleans, LA 70114

1801 L B Landry Avenue    

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. 

Directors Present

D. Barnes, D. Patin, E. Marrero-Savoie, G. Briggs, J. Stewart, R. Green, R. Watkins, S. Rademaker

Directors Absent

J. Thibodeaux, S. Brown

Ex Officio Members Present

R. Carter

Non Voting Members Present

R. Carter

Guests Present

M. Clark

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 Nov 30, 2022 at 6:07 PM.

C.

Approval of Today’s Meeting Agenda - Darren Patin (Voting)

R. Watkins made a motion to approve the minutes from November 30, 2022.
G. Briggs seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

II. Head of School Report

A.

Head of School Report – Dr. Melanie Askew Clark (Voting)

LDOE:

  • 30-Hour Summer School & Retention Policy: In an attempt to address below-grade-level reading concerns expressed by members of the legislature, as well as to place a heightened focus on the most vulnerable COVID-learning loss students, LDOE initially proposed a mandatory summer reading and retention policy for third and fourth graders not reading on grade level.
  • State police are switching to an all-electronic fingerprint system that should help process fingerprints for background check requests within three business days (instead of the current 10-15 day paper system).


 

NOLA-PS: 

  • SPED Camera Policy Submission: Pursuant to R.S. 17:1948, school systems are required to submit their approved policy for the installation and operation of cameras in certain classrooms to the Department by December 31 or within 60 days of receipt of funding. Since funding has been released to school systems, please submit your LEA’s policy using the SPED Camera Policy Collection form by November 30. The board will need to approve the policy today.


 

  • The Oct. 1 SPED student reporting deadlines to LDOE have been extended until Dec. 16. This should permit funding to continue to students based on last year's Feb. counts and give school systems ample time to input data into the new system. *Schools need to ensure they capture the date services began/were provided (not the date the information was able to be placed into the new system).
  • We received a shoutout from the Superintendent, Dr. Avis Williams as a Top Gains Honoree in the city. She acknowledged the additional challenges that single-site charter schools face and how proud she was of the school.
  • We reached out to Freddie King in regards to the speed limit lights and cameras not working in front of the school. He immediately responded and forwarded our email for resolve.
  • Élan passed its annual site visit from NOLA-PS 
    • General Compliance (9 out of 9 In Compliance)
    • Special Education Compliance (14 out of 14 In Compliance)

Human Resources: 

  • We have the following opening:
    • 5-7 Middle School Coach
  • We have recently hired:
    • Kindergarten Instructor (began Nov. 28)
    • Social Studies Instructor (began Nov.28)
  • Jobs are posted on Elan Academy website and Indeed

Partnerships & Resources: 

  • Part II of the Élan Board of Directors retreat will take place in January. 
  • Élan has partnered with Junction Place Sports to provide sports for lower grades.
  • To further support the development of our gifted and talented programming, we are utilizing a grant from Apple to implement Swift CS Coding. Our teachers have been in training to execute the curriculum in conjunction with our partnership with NOLA Code.
  • Dr. Clark will have an executive coach through her participation with the E3 Fellowship to support her leadership as she continues to transition further into the CEO/Executive Director role.
  • Elan has received numerous grants to support instructional and extracurricular goals
  • LAPCS Conference–December 15, New Orleans!: Join LAPCS at our 2022 Annual Conference on Thursday, December 15, at the Sheraton New Orleans. 
  • Pelicans player Larry Nance wore an Élan sweatshirt to one of games and donated a signed jersey for a silent auction. All proceeds will go to Élan.
  • We have a partnership with the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans. We are in the process of scheduling the next round of our data collaborative meetings as we finalize the LEAP preparation plan and scholar goal setting.

Strategic Planning Update: 

  • Our work with Bellwether will wrap up next month with our final strategic plan. 

Enrollment: 

  • Current Enrollment for the 2022-2023 School Year. We are currently under enrolled. ESSER funds are supporting the decline at this time. The OneApp opens next month for the upcoming school year.



 

R. Watkins made a motion to approve the minutes from Head Of School Report.
S. Rademaker seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

III. Governance

A.

Governance Committee Report - Darren Patin (Voting)

November Governance Committee Meeting Highlights

 

  • Discussed the creation of the behavior policy for Elan Academy
  • Discussed the drafting of the Board Succession Plan
  • Board Meeting evaluation to get feedback on current practices and determine areas for improvement
  • Discussed facilities and options for a new location
  • Had a discussion with our auditors and should have a discussion by end of the week; everything looks positive; final report is due December 30, 2022
  • Darren will reach out to NOPS regarding audits findings regarding ESSR funds
    • Will discuss our status as an individual LEA
  • Food and Janitorial services are satisfactory
  • Transportation has some points for discussion regarding bus routes and monitors
  • Strategic Plan (Bellwether)
    • J.Stewart and D. Patin attended a working session with Bellwether
    • Emphasis on student success profiles and how to grow and market
    • Upper school vision
    • Future financing for growth and financial outlook at the 5 and 10 year marks
J. Stewart made a motion to approve the minutes from November Governance Committee Meeting.
D. Barnes seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

IV. Academic

A.

Academic Committee Report –

R. Watkins made a motion to approve the minutes from November Academic Committee Report.
R. Green seconded the motion.

Discussed Elan Academic Data

  • Strategizing on how to further engage parents 
  • Opportunity to collaborate with Country Day (grant funded program) with a potential private school- public school partnership
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

V. Finance

A.

Finance Committee Report – Roger Watkins (Voting)

D. Barnes made a motion to approve the minutes from October Financial Report Finance Committee Meeting on 11-28-22.
E. Marrero-Savoie seconded the motion.

 

Revenues:

 

Expenses:

 

The board VOTED to approve the motion.

VI. Development

A.

Development Committee Report –

G. Briggs made a motion to approve the minutes from October Development Report.
R. Watkins seconded the motion.

October Development Report

 

  • Reviewed fundraising effort
  • New fundraising goal of $21,000
  • Fundraiser activities discussed
    • Popcorn sales
    • Dinner Night Out at local restaurant
  • Giving Tuesday goal met
  • Discussed various opportunities to expand fundraising efforts 
  • Discussed bringing in grant writers to assist with going after larger grants
  • Corporate giving

 

 

The board VOTED to approve the motion.

VII. Additional Business

A.

Old Business

No old business to discuss.

B.

New Business - Darren Patin

C.

Consideration of update of school policy regarding Cameras in SPED Classrooms (voting)

SPED Camera Policy Submission: Pursuant to R.S. 17:1948, school systems are required to submit their approved policy for the installation and operation of cameras in certain classrooms to the Department by December 31 or within 60 days of receipt of funding. Since funding has been released to school systems, please submit your LEA’s policy using the SPED Camera Policy Collection form by November 30. The board will need to approve the policy today.

R. Watkins made a motion to Approve the SPED Camera Policy pursuant to R.S. 17:1948, Senate Bill 42 and 86, as directed.
J. Stewart seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

VIII. Closing Items

A.

Chairman's Remarks

D. Patin thanked the Board for their service and discussed the importance of Board recruitment and growth. 

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:15 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
D. Barnes
Guests are welcome to speak during each agenda item with recognition from the presiding officer. In the event to comments or debate may appear to be lengthy, the presiding officer will set a time limit the open comment period; will define the time length each person is afforded to speak; will recognize the order of the respondents, and each person will be asked to state their name, city, parish, and affiliation with the school (examples: employee, administration, parent, community guest, school board representative). This policy subject to change, as necessary.