Given that this was the first Board meeting of the 2025-2026 school year, Chair Brian Whitney took the opportunity to provide an overview of the work of the Board for the coming year.  He said that last year the Board accomplished a lot of foundational work, and because of that the upcoming year will be focused on building on that work by looking more deeply into Anser's operations to look for efficiencies that need to be retained and leveraged while also uncovering inefficiencies that need attention.  The overarching goal of this work will be to better align Anser's budget with actual revenues so the school regains its historically sound financial footing beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.  He emphasized that Anser has always had strong results academically ever since it began in 1999, and that it has been a wonderful school for over a quarter century at this point. But because of ongoing enrollment challenges and increased costs, the financial side of the organization has struggled and thus needs immediate attention. 

Renee Bade explained who was hired.  All contracts were for certified staff.  The individual contracts cover the following areas: 5th grade STEAM with an art emphasis, special education, and 1st grade.

As of Monday, August 25, 600 students were enrolled.  The original enrollment target for the 2025-2026 school year was 617. At one point in August, 647 students had completed Infinite Campus paperwork and looked like they were going to attend Anser.  It is necessary at this point to find out why so many families chose to not attend Anser in the last few weeks before the beginning of school.  Roger Stewart recommended that an enrollment committee be formed to undertake this work plus other necessary work to help increase and stabilize enrollments for the 2026-2027 school year.  Discussion ensued and Haley Bethune recommended that a task force for this initiative be formed first and then after their work is completed the Board can decide at that time if a permanent committee focused on enrollment is needed. It was decided to put an action item on the next regular Board meeting agenda to vote on the formation of the task force. 

Destin Tonkin provided two handouts that provide details concerning the goals she and the teaching staff have established for the next three years (SY2025-26 through SY2027-28).  The goals revolve around the following themes: character, high quality work, mastery of knowledge and skills, and leadership. 

Leon Samuels' letter of interest and resume were reviewed and discussed. Brian Whitney also provided details about how future board candidates will be brought forward to the Board.  The Governance Committee will first receive application materials from applicants for Board positions. They will review the materials and then make recommendations to the Board.   

Brian Whitney discussed next steps for the essential questions calendars for each of the Anser subcommittees. Brian stated that committees can make changes to the documents. He said that the documents are probably to the point now where they can be reviewed for items that will be brought to the board at specific times of the year for review and discussion. Board Secretary Stewart said that he would review the calendars for these items and develop a list that can be used when constructing the monthly Board Meeting agendas.  

The "Opening Crew" agenda item that has historically been included on all monthly Board Meeting agendas will be reviewed in the future to assess whether changes are needed. 

Destin Tonkin and Ann Moore left the meeting prior to entry into Executive Session.  

The Zoom meeting attendees were checked to make sure only those eligible and/or necessary to the purpose of the Session were present.

Sarah Butler made a motion to enter Executive Session. Sasha Rojas Zaragoza seconded. A roll call vote was taken and all responded Yes.  The Board entered Executive Session at 7:22 pm.

Hannah Read Newbill made a motion to exit Executive Session. Lynne Funke seconded. A roll call vote was taken and all responded Yes. The Board exited Executive Session at 7:43 pm.