Dave Nagel read the conflict of interest and ethics statement. None brought forward

Dave went over agenda and touched on certain points. 

Added the ED evaluation approach. 

Lindsey has 3 topics. 

No public comments submitted via email

Opened up to zoom public comments-

• Kathyrn Bryant- Gave thanks to administration team and how hard they are working.
• Melissa Madison- Agreed to give thanks for hard work for administration.

Discussion of the 2024-25 Goals Document by Lindsey Sealy.

• Bringing together all the goals we have discussed throughout the year as board and administration.
• See attached document. ERA's 2024-25 School Goals
• Realistic, attainable, highlighted well what we want to get strong on.
• Will vote on these goals- cornerstone for ED evaluation down the road

Pamela talking about the community survey

• Used last survey as a guide
• Reached out to other school groups to get feedback. 
• Questions: Fundraising, community, safety, steam, diversity, open ended
• Can use year after year to look data and trends.
• For families with kids in different grades: need a way to answer questions that are pertaining to the different children's grades. 
• Timing goal is to get out in early December
• Should we add more Board question goals? Maybe end of year separate board survey.
• Do this survey as written now and then a more board specific survey at end of school year
• No vote needed.

Dave -discussed the ED Annual Evaluation Process document.

ED evaluation Committee came up with this document. 

Gave a time line of process for ED evaluation- Once a year formal evaluation

• September- Annual school goals board approved
• January- YTD data and evidence collected related to goals, mid-year discussion between ED and ED eval Committee on YTD performance
• April-May- Review of data and evidence collected YTD related goals, stakeholder 360 feedback, EOY discussion between ED and ED eval Committee on overall performance.
• June ED evaluation document board approved.

Sabrina-brought up going to a 4point scale (versus 3 point scale) that came from state evaluation system- to be eligible for state ED awards.

Bring to vote in January

Lindsey Discussion on a PA system. 

Background:

We have no intercom feature. There is no way to send an emergency alert message to every speaker in the building. For the purpose of safety this needs to be a priority.

Quotes:

1. Visiplex, Inc. - $150K+
2. Converged Networks  - $37K (may need to get new phones also), one-way speaker
3. Converged Networks - $55K (this is what works with our existing phones)
4. Telcom - $18K

Proposal: I would like the board to approve Option # 2- $37K one

Lindsey wanting to hire an administrative assistant- hourly position

• currently only 2 clerical staff
• recommended for our size school to have at least 3 clerical staff
• doing finance management, for example-sick-day pay log
• Full-time or part-time? Part-time, 30 hours, no-benefits. Start with part-time and see how the balance is. 
• See document of job description.
• Is it within budget? 
• I think there is need for it for this role. 
• Board supportive 

FYI- information as part of DEI plan. 

• See document on the gender support guidelines.
• Our past DEI liaison helped give guidelines to create these guidelines. 
• Best-practices put in writing. 
• Can be shared with teachers and can be consistent amongst staff
• Supports mental health and safety

Audit 

• Audit was finished- review is complete. Prestige can come in January if we want them give us a briefing.  
• Overall audit was positive. 
• We went above and beyond. Financially school looks overall healthy, they work with 70 schools and ERA is in the top 3rd financially health-wise, top 10 of schools they work with. 
• We had an outstanding year, most schools didn’t do this well year because of Covid funding. 
• A finding, Significant deficiency - because of EC licensures, Not concerned about it for one year, NEED: Corrective Action Plan on letter head and send back, Make sure the teachers in the EC program are licensed.

For October- On track with expenses, revenue is not there but that is expected. We are forward funding. Waiting on State budget. That is why you have 60 days in operating account. We have about 240 days on hand, as of audit. Sabrina went over budget. Sitting healthy. 

Sabrina and Lindsey met with Prestige firm, Michael, recently to discuss schools savings money and best way to manage that in future. To have money secure but also invested in most profitable way. 

• Spoke with Michael with Amerprise at Prestige to discuss financial health looks like- discussed accounts. Discussed moving our money to a more safe, productive account. Example given was a  brokerage account. He gave other options as well. 
• Board discussion points: Shop around for brokers, tiered pricing, options of what to do. 
•  Want to come back to board with recommendation and vote in future to put money in an insured and safe place. 
• Surplus- We have 800K surplus last year. Think about what to do with this surplus. Each year you need surplus for unexpected expenses. To think about what to do with it each year. At some point would be good to re-invest into school. This would be second to getting the above done first. 

Admin Updates for the Board Meeting 11/19/2024

Fundraising- great projects were done with our fundraising money. 

Staffing update- Open postion- Middle school math teacher, MTSS Interventionist position available in January.

Last month we had our high schoolers take the PreACT and PSAT. We also hosted the Book Fair, Trunk or Treat, our first round of Tours, Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, and The Fire Department for Fire Safety Month. 

The PTO also did teacher appreciation Candy Apple Bar and Baked Potato Bar as well as held the first Admin Town Hall which was fantastic. 

Gave PTO update.

We had two students get accepted into NC Honors Chorus and they performed two weekends ago!

We had our BTSP Monitoring Visit, we passed with no issues.

We also had a middle school dance, STEM stream study in grades 2-5, 4th grade animal museum, 2nd grade colonial day, 6th grade mobile planetarium visit and high school band and chorus concert, and homecoming. 

Coming up, this Thursday we have our high school performing arts dinner theater: Dinner at 8, Dead by Nine, there are only a few tickets left.