Intergenerational Schools
Minutes
June School Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday June 25, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Location
Near West Intergenerational School
3805 Terrett Ave.
Cleveland, Oh 44113
The Intergenerational School creates, connects, and guides a multigenerational community of lifelong learners and spirited citizens as they strive for academic excellence.
Directors Present
B. Norton, C. Wald, D. Clark, J. Lopez-Inman, L. Carpenter, R. Bunton, R. Nicolay, S. Lake, S. Miller
Directors Absent
None
Ex Officio Members Present
M. Rado
Non Voting Members Present
M. Rado
Guests Present
A. Ahmad, A. Cascio, A. Maimone, Allison Luntz, B. King, C. Farmer, D. Mangen, K. Parish, S. Alonso
I. Board Resolutions
A.
Board Resolutions for Schools
II. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Mission Moment
S. Miller explained to the board that this was the board's 1st year meeting and exceeding the goals set by our ESCLEW sponsor. This included event participation, COI forms, attendance board meetings, and etc. She also mentioned that the board reached their goal of having 100% school board members giving. She gave a special thank you to the board for their engagement.
B. King let the board know that last night at the CMSD board meeting, TIS got approved for the CMSD partnership and will officially get LEVY funding. The school will be getting $400,000 with the LEVY money.
III. Public Comment
A.
Public Comment
S. Miller opened the floor up for public comment, there were no comments made during this time.
IV. Sponsor Reports
A.
CMSD/ESCLEW Sponsor Report
M. Rado let the board know that the TIS partnership agreement needs to be approved and signed to start in July, and they did contract updated for NW. In July, they will come by and do an inspection to make sure the building is still doing well.
M. Rado explained that the contract is a 1 year agreement, and that TIS needs to stay in the top ⅓ of their neighboring schools and continue to meet the requirement of having 80% of students from Cleveland, for this school year. He stated that the agreements are the same from the years previous, since TIS was a partner before. He informed the board that the percentage of students from each area will be pulled from the data of the previous SY.
M. Rado gave background to the board that CMSD has not done a new partnership cycle in years. They had a total of 7 schools that applied and only TIS was approved this cycle, which means they may qualify for more money.
V. Consent Agenda
A.
Approval of May 14, 2025 Minutes
B.
Approval of June 6th, 2025: School Board Retreat Minutes
C.
Contracts and MOUs
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
D.
2025-2026 School Board Meeting Calendar
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
E.
Policy Approval
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
F.
ESCLEW-Modification 2
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
G.
Amended & Restated CMSD Sponsorship Contract
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
H.
Amendment to the Compensation Plan
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
I.
Personnel Actions
This was approved in the consent agenda vote.
VI. Fundraising Report
A.
Update and Reminders
M. Granson presented to the board the Development Report, and she passed out a packet of highlights that were completed via Inbloom. She informed the board that she and the Inbloom team are working with the new IGS Development Director, Melina Higbee. M. Granson thanked Carolyn Wald and Bob Nicolay for their contributions to the board.
M. Granson went over all the current grants that IGS has applied for and their current status, she would like the good news if we get anything. She also explained to the board the hardships that the development team went through this school year. She asked the board for help to connect us with any connections they may have that we can use to apply to more grants.
VII. Facilities
A.
Update on Near West Lease
B. King stated that IGS is very close to closing on the NW lease, and that a lot of progress was made. The new lease will include building improvements and repairs, which is not included in our current lease. She stated that NW is waiting on the MOU for the current lease, and they are working to hopefully waive some of the fees, and the custodial pay. She let the board know that IGS is working to simplify the billing cycle that their NW lease is currently on. The company did an analysis of the utilities and it seemed to be a current rate and they have settled on the lease.
She states that originally IGS was negotiating for a shorter term with the option of being able to leave if another available building comes up. The terms settled on the terms include; if IGS decides to leave, we have to give a 6 month notice. And, if the company decides the lease is not working anymore, they will have to give IGS a 12 month notice in order to ask them to vacate.
B. Nicolay asked if they give us a 12 month notice if it goes into effect at any point even in the middle of the school year? A. Cascio stated that it’s if they need this building or if it’s sold.
B. King stated that IGS has expressed interest in the other swing property, and that we are looking into H. Barbara Booker on Lorain.
B. Nicolay asked for updates on this contract as it is being discussed, and when the vote is. B. King stated they will vote August 6th and will provide an update on the situation at the next board meeting.
VIII. Governance
A.
Renewal of Terms
Steven Lake and Carolyn Wald voted together as a first on this motion
The board discussed that a new board member was interested in joining , and that B. Nicolay will be reaching out to them soon. He stated they will plan to retroactively start their term to the this board meeting.
This is the school board portion of the vote to add a member to the FIGS board
IX. Intergenerational Cleveland-Appointment of an At Large Member
A.
Sarah Lom
This is the school board portion of the vote to add a member to the FIGS board
X. Finance
A.
Approval of Celeste Farmer as Treasurer effective July 1, 2025
B.
Approval of April Financials
D. Mangen went over the financials of the whole network and mentioned we are currently on par with our budgeted amounts, and the overall budget variance is positive for both schools. He stated that IGS is dependent on HQ dollars and that we are trying to make it not so dependent. He stated that we have 10 million dollars in reserves and we are in a comfortable place currently.
B. Nicolay asked about the discrepancies from the Intergenerational Cleveland financial amounts.
B. King stated that some grants come in directly to the schools, and the numbers on the financials is the actual payout amount. B. Nicolay asked if IGS can provide a fundraising report that shows the money we are putting in vs the money we are getting back.
C.
Reapproval of the Five-Year Forecast for Submission to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
D. Mangen stated that we had to reapprove the five-year financials, on the new state template.
D.
Annual Shared Staffing Contract Action
B. King explained that the model-wide employees are paid from different schools, and would like to see if the school board will agree to pay all the shared staff from the Intergenerational Cleveland financial account.
E.
Mangen & Associates Contract
L. Carpenter let the board know that the Mangen contract is almost up and we would like to renew for another year. Mangen would like to continue to charge us the same rate, as the previous years, and that we should cut some of our staff if we would like the amount to be lowered. L. Carpenter stated that we will do some investigating into the IGS overhead and what is the best staffing we can achieve. She explained IGS will not tie in the two things as requested, but we can investigate it separately. She stated the charge will be increased because we only budgeted for 2 years, however Mangen is still charging for services that would be equivalent for 3 schools.
XI. Education Advisory Group
A.
Enrollment Update
B. King updated the board with our current enrollment numbers for each school, and the goals we have for our enrollment this year. She also presented the boards with numbers of enrollment during the month of June from the past 3 years, for comparison. B. King explained the strategies that IGS is using to reach the enrollment goals, a big one is the new relationship with Possip. Possip will send out a pulse check survey to the families who are set to start at both schools, and T. Wilson will follow up after getting the responses. B. King stated that IGS has been at multiple festivals this summer, as a way to draw more families to enroll to the school. She mentioned that the interns have started and will begin the door to door enrollment pitches. She also mentioned that BrandPivot has changed the demographic that our Facebook ads were set to, in order to fit our schools better.
L. Carpenter stated that IGS should try to canvas at block clubs? B. King stated that we will keep an eye open for any aligning events.
C. Wald asked if the board members can help out with the enrollment efforts in any ways. B. King stated that helping to spread the word about The Intergenerational Schools is the best way to get more people to sign students up.
A. Maimone stated that we should try to get our Ads on Zillow to get our name out there.
XII. Executive Committee
A.
The Intergenerational School/Cleveland Municipal School District Partnership Agreement
M. Rado let the board know that the TIS partnership agreement needs to be approved. M. Rado explained that the contract is a 1 year agreement, and that TIS needs to stay in the top ⅓ of their neighboring schools and continue to meet the requirement of having 80% of students from Cleveland, for this school year. He stated that the agreements are the same from the years previous, since TIS was a partner before. He informed the board that the percentage of students from each area will be pulled from the data of the previous SY.
M. Rado gave background to the board that CMSD has not done a new partnership cycle in years. They had a total of 7 schools that applied and only TIS was approved this cycle, which means they may qualify for more money.
B.
Establish a Board Task Force to Review and Recommend the Use of Intergenerational Cleveland as a Charter Management Organization
The board discussed establishing a task force to review and recommend the use of Intergenerational Cleveland as a charter management organization. B. King explained why it is needed and how the board members can help with the effort. She explained that A. Cascio and S. Alonso will serve as staff liaisons for the taskforce. B. King stated that any board member can join if they'd like.
XIII. Executive Session
A.
Roll call vote
Roll Call | |
---|---|
R. Bunton |
Aye
|
B. Norton |
Aye
|
L. Carpenter |
Aye
|
S. Lake |
Aye
|
D. Clark |
Aye
|
R. Nicolay |
Aye
|
C. Wald |
Aye
|
S. Miller |
Aye
|
J. Lopez-Inman |
Absent
|
These were signed by the Secretary of the board, Joanna Lopez-Inman