Amy arrived late.

Kristi read the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Statement

The bond closing was discussed first in respect for our guest presenter.

There was no public comment.

There was no report.

~We closed today on the purchase of the school buildings
~Current enrollment: 762
~Audit started on June 9th and will be finalized in the fall.
~We sent out a survey in preparation for our reopening plan. We will be sharing those details in the July board meeting. We will get further details from the Governor’s Office in early July.  Those results and information will guide our work on the re-opening plans.
~We are collaborating with several local charter schools to share resources and plans for reopening.
~Summer Jumpstart Program-The NC Legislature has allocated funds for a summer Jumpstart program for struggling readers in K-4. We will be reaching out to the families of identified students and will begin remediation in early July. Summer Jumpstart will be for 2019-2020 2nd and 3rd graders. During the academic year, we will widen the net and include rising 1st and 5th graders.

• Lisa met with our Accounting firm Acadia.  They reviewed the expected revenue and expenses and prepared the budget for this upcoming year (based on the expected 762 students, and 86 EC students).
• Sarah asked if the budget took into account the possible need for additional electronic devices because of the COVID19 remote learning requirements, and also asked if the enrollment numbers decreased what that would look like fiscally.  Lisa replied that they are planning on a 5% decrease in our revenue just in case.  Also, there have been no concerns about lower enrollment. There have actually been many calls and interest because of COVID19 and the desire to be at a smaller school.
• Michael asked if we considered increasing our janitorial cost?  Lisa replied that they have already used money provided to the school from the State to purchase multiple infrared thermometers, 5 masks for all students and staff, CDC recommended cleaning products, as well as standing hand sanitizer for entrances.
• Brad asked why was the budget using a 5% revenue decrease - was that an educated guess? Lisa replied that the decision was made based on conversations during meetings that Arcadia and ERA staff have had with the State (there has been nothing provided in writing).
• Amy asked since we were waiting for the closing, which has now been completed, if this would be a good time to discuss outdoor seating areas.  Lisa said she would prefer to put that off for the moment, but to revisit it in the fall. She is aware that a lot of the families have shown interest. Perhaps Future Visions would be a good place to begin those conversations. 

Kristi announced of the election results:
Michael O'Malley will be returning for a 3 year term (July 1 - June 30, 2023) and Charles Penny will be joining as a BoD also for a 3 year term (July 1 - June 30, 2023)
Amy Simonson's term as a Community Member at Large ends on June 30th.
Her Community Member Seat opens, and is a 1 year term
Rachel Monschein has a senior and her position becomes open on July 1.
Travis Hill will be completing his term as well on June 30th.
The community should be on the lookout for announcements for the seat openings.
 

Lisa announced that we closed this morning on the purchase of the school buildings (which will be a substantial savings from the leasing structure we previously held).  Paul from Specialized Public Finance Inc. presented the details of the financing (including 4.847% interest rate and a 2054 maturity). 

We still have a lot of question marks with respect to COVID19.  We have been asked to come up with 3 different scenarios:
1) students return in the fall with heavier cleaning, masks, and cautious with social distancing
2) hybrid model where half of the students would be in the building and half of the students would be distance learning and then deep clean the school and then the students trade off 
3) all distance learning - We are looking as a team to select a specific electronic platform for web-based learning. We will have more information in the July meeting. 

Brad asked Lisa if the State will tell us what we will have to do?  Lisa said it will depend on the governor.  If it is mandate, then we won't have a choice.  If it is a recommendation, then we can get input from our families to make decisions.

Lisa said they are expecting to receive information from the governor on July 1st.  She will share information with families as soon as she is able.  Families should be expecting surveys to share their input. Lisa suggested to schedule the next BoD meeting for July 21st to allow them some time to tweak the plan.

Amy suggested that this might be a good opportunity for the BoD to make announcements to the school community to improve communication with school families. Sarah agreed and said that this could be a good topic for the discussed newsletter. Sarah said she would be happy to speak to Amy offline.

Kristi said she has reached her term limit for the Chair position. So while she will still be on the Board, we will be electing some new officers. There will need to be some discussion about the meeting schedule for this coming year, and a deeper conversation about what our meetings look like.  If we are able to resume face to face meetings, what does that look like with respect to masks and the open meeting law. We will also need to have conversations about the need for extra support and tutoring, over the coming weeks.

Kristi said that there was a "Thank you" captured in the meeting chat for how quickly the school responded to the pandemic - even faster than the district.

Michael said that they held their last Future Visions meeting on May 14th over Zoom.
They reviewed the Strategic Plan and will have a draft for the next BoD meeting.

He wanted to know from the board if there were any action items they could suggest in response to the survey comments such as streamlining communication/communication liaison, extra curricular/athletics, diversity of students and staff/inclusion/social inequity. 
Sarah said that diversity is a top priority for the school in her mind. She would love to attend the next Future Visions meeting to discuss. There has been some discussion on the ERA PATH page and there was a lot of interest in a group of parents willing to get involved with that topic.  

Kristi suggested that Michael consider holding exit interviews for leaving BoD members to solicit feedback and ideas for ways to improve and to also learn things we are doing well.  

Michael said that Future Visions can tackle some of the goals such as diversity and inclusion, but hopes that someone would like to champion the Communications part as well as be an owner for clubs/extracurricular goals.  Kristi said everyone should be thinking about the officer appointments, and have nominations in mind for the officer seats.  Michael and Kristi will get that information out to everyone.  There will need to be a conversation and needs identified. Typically we will need a liaison to Future Visions, and typically the Treasurer is the liaison to the finance committee.

Amy asked if the liaison roles also existing voting BoD members?  Kristi replied yes, that liaisons are board members to committees.  Committees are not necessarily chaired by Board member, but Board member is the liaison for the committee to improve communication.  The structure can not be changed at our meetings because they are stated in our Bylaws which have to be approved by the DPI.  

Michael invited those on the call to volunteer if they have an interest.
Kristi thanked the BoD and the administrative team. 
Sarah thanked Kristi for her leadership and wisdom.
Lisa echoed the thank you to Kristi.

There was no need for a closed session.