Butler Academy
Minutes
Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday April 16, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Location
701 S 5th St,
Hartsville, SC
29550
Board Meeting
Wednesday, Apr 16 • 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/rae-qqcp-yjv
Or dial: +1 607-689-2015 PIN: 810 681 983#
Trustees Present
A. Morris, C. Robinson (remote), E. Mobley, H. Hoilett-Frierson, M. Bunnell, S. Wilson
Trustees Absent
D. Buryj, E. Waters, K. Flaherty, M. Stellingworth, S. Hill
Guests Present
J. Reyes, V. Reyes
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C.
Approve Minutes
II. VP of Operations updates
A.
Enrollment updates
40 kindergarten seats are accepted. there are 4 9th grade seats. Waiting list from K-9 has increased from 85 to 113 since the last meeting.
Re-Enrollment survey, there was a 99.5% response rate with a 97% retention rate.
Children of New Hires/Board Members and potential retentions will become clearer mid-May.
Community engagement- BA was invited to Bishopville Head Start. Will be reaching out to the Darlington and Hartsville Head Starts to see if a similar engagement activity can be made.
B.
Food Services update
Chartwells partners with numerous other charter schools as well as Florence 1 district in the state of SC. Was compared to the Nutrition Group. Proposals were submitted and a 5 person team who made an independent evaluation committee gave independent evaluations.
C.
Board Approval Request: Credit Award for Scholar Exceeding Absence Limit but Meeting Instructional Requirements
A special case of approval of absences in excess of 10. Purpose: awarding credit for the year. The schoalr is in 2 high school credit classes. Has 11 abcenses in English honors 1 and 15 in Algebra 1. Had a major injury.
Approval of Carnegie Units. Minimum of 120H of instruction, regardless of days missed or demonstrate proficiency. The classes are 228H year-long, and the scholar is maintaining a B average in both classes. This scholar's case is certainly an exception.
III. Development
A.
Fundraising updates
Had a good meeting with Veris about a 5 year budget. Will have a detailed meeting with Amy Morris the head of the development committee. Veris brought attention to the 'local funding ' line.
Starting to compline a list of potential grants for the remaining year. Have a $150k grant from the Charter School Growth Fund mentioned at last month's visit related to parent empowerment and are awaiting to hear about another 6 figure grant this spring.
IV. President Updates
A.
Partnerships
Continuing talks with Coker University and Darlington Tech regarding the cost of some college credit at either institution.
14 new hires for next year.
Retention rate for staff last year was 89%. The CEO feels that the retention of mission and model alignment has increased from last year.
V. Governance Committee
A.
Board Expansion
There are 2 returning board members with 5 appointed seats and 6 elected seats. Governance committee made recommendations to offer 2 appointed seats to the two returning board members, and remaining seats to Dr .J. Klimek and Dr. G. Woods. The committee is still continuing with interviews with other interested parties. If there isn't interest, would recommend the last appointed seat to Mr J. Hudson.
K. Flaherty has signed up A. Morris, D. Buryj and herself to attend the Charter School Goals workshop May 14th. Will reach out to the district to find out any upcoming virtual training sessions.
B.
Board elections
Reviewed the proposed timeline for upcoming board elections. With nominations opening up May 1st.
VI. Scholar Experience
A.
Power made Practical Immersion program
Committee continues to make phone calls to communicate with families.
VII. CEO Evaluation Committee
A.
2024-2025 Evaluation cycle
The CEO self evaluation has opened. Once he has finished his part, will share with the board. Explained that there are other metrics the board asks for to inform their answers when they answer the survey. E.g. teacher satisfaction surveys.
VIII. Finance
A.
Review Financials
will have a virtual meeting soon to discuss the past 2 financials that were postponed.
IX. Facility
A.
High School plans
Eagerly awaiting signed agreements between Coker and Butler for classroom space.
C. Robinson arrived virtually to the meeting later. No Quorum was met before he arrived for any action to be taken. Will vote to approve March Minutes at the next meeting.