L. Johnson mentioned the October 8, 2018 NSBR Board meeting was a great opportunity to share who we are and what we are doing.  She discussed the good working relationship GEO has with NSBR and that NSBR awarded GEO $150,000 middle school expansion and $400,000 for startup of the high school.  NSBR staff (in particular, Kara) did an outstanding job of making their Board aware of our efforts.  Ms. Johnson reminded the Board of the numerous ways NSBR has supported GEO (playground equipment, Relay, City Year, Amplify science curriculum, etc).  K. Teasley also mentioned the support NSBR will be providing in the form of strategic planning.

K. Teasley mentioned the plan for the 2019-20 school year is to transfer K-3 students from the Sherwood school back to Platt Dr. location, which will free up 200-300 seats at the Sherwood location to begin the high school (9th grade).  The general plan is to have a facility built on the Sherwood property (behind the baseball field) for the high school by the time the 9th graders become juniors (2021-2022 school year).  L. Johnson also shared the excitement of our partnership with BRCC on our early college HS.  There was discussion about various supports and opportunities (i.e., taking Alg I in 8th grade) for our 6-8th grade students to be ready for high school.  K. Teasley also mentioned there will be various pathways (ie., nursing, business, liberal arts) for students while at BRCC.   An effective HS counselor will be key to success, along with the school leader, who we hope to identify soon.

CMO Oversight—L. Johnson acknowledged a request from D. Slan to modify language under General Contract Compliance section from reading as “most students” to “all students.”  L. Fontenot had questions under Financial and Operations section.  K. Teasley mentioned to the Board that the Education Service Provider evaluation instrument was created by a Board member in Colorado to review the management services of GEO.  He suggested on a monthly basis the Board discuss 1 of the 4 areas on the instrument.  For example, in November the Board could discuss general contracts compliance.  Given K. Teasley’s explanation, D. Slan withdrew her request for language changes.   D. Slan made a motion to approve use of the evaluation tool, seconded by L. Fontenot.  L. Johnson made the recommendation that the Board address human relations category in November, then general contracts compliance at the following month’s meeting.    

L. Johnson asked Board members to complete, sign, and date the Conflict of Interest questionnaire, which addresses ethics requirement for all Board members.    

S. Douglas shared school activities occurring over the next 3 months and invited Board members to attend as their schedules permit.  Sandra mentioned the possibly of changing Nov 6 from a school day to a PD day for teachers due to it being Elections Day and EBR schools being closed.