Gestalt Community Schools
Minutes
August Board Meeting - Audio Conference: 901-213-5161 Enter Extension: 1216 Guest Password: 5152
Date and Time
Thursday August 24, 2017 at 8:30 AM
Location
Power Center Academy Middle School, 5449 Winchester Road, Memphis, TN 38115 - Audio Conference: 901-213-5161 Enter Extension: 1216 Guest Password: 5152
Directors Present
A. Evans Blackwell, C. Leon, D. Selberg, K. Satterthwaite, S. Branch (remote), Y. Lewis
Directors Absent
H. Coleman, K. Walker Burt, P. Ray, T. Williams
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
S. Branch
Guests Present
A. Butler, A. Silverman (remote), B. Turner, G. Rucker, K. Parish, M. McFarland
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
A. Evans Blackwell called a meeting of the board of directors of Gestalt Community Schools to order on Thursday Aug 24, 2017 at 8:41 AM.
C.
Approve Minutes
Y. Lewis made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 06-21-17 Board Meeting on 06-21-17.
C. Leon seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
M. McFarland arrived.
A. Butler arrived.
S. Branch arrived.
II. Governance
A.
Approve incoming Board Members
C. Leon made a motion to approve new board members: Sonji M. Branch, Katie Satterthwaite, and David Seibert.
Y. Lewis seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
III. Academic
A.
2016-2017 Results
B.
b. Academic Targets and Priorities
Network Academic Goals - we use NWEA data, and are in process of bldg strong data around High School and starting with 6th grade.
Goal is to have 76 % of scholars to be in the upper quartile of NWEA scores.
We are working to revamp the Network Academic goals and how we measure against NWEA.
Tn Ready D2D Middle School Comparision Data and High School Comparision Data; this is our schools compared to other charter schools in the State of TN that participate with D2D.
This is initial information, but in October we should have actual information.
Growth Summary Report on Math, Reading, and Language
Strategic Priorities
Priority 1 Restoring positive authentic relationships between network and schools
Priority 2 instructional practices will exemplify the prioritized common core shifts in numeracy and literacy
IPGA Core Actions ELA
Core Action 1 : focus each lesson on a high quality text or multiple texts
Core Action 2: employ questions and tasks both oral and written that are text specific and reflect the standards
Core Action 3: provide all students with opportunities to engage in the work of the lesson
IPGA Core Actions Math
Core Action 1: Ensure the work of the lesson reflects the shifts required
Core Action 2: Employ instructional practices that allow all students to learn the content of the lesson
Core Action 3: provide all students with opportunities to exhibit mathematical practices while engaging with the content of the lesson
Setting a New course
Disrupt the status quo, close the knowledge/opportunity gap, follow research about what is best for kids
Year 1 - implement an aligned curriculum, implement strong coaching protocols and practices, run high-impact school & network plcs moving from procedural to conceptual
ACT - average ACT 18.3 for PCAHS - - we want scores of 24 - college opportunities are significantly higher based on your score. We want a high quality rigorous curriculum and aligning training for our teachers.
If anyone has questions on the Academic data presented, send them to Ashanti and she will determine if we need to discuss at next board meeting; we will discuss the Tn ready data at the next board meeting
Goal is to have 76 % of scholars to be in the upper quartile of NWEA scores.
We are working to revamp the Network Academic goals and how we measure against NWEA.
Tn Ready D2D Middle School Comparision Data and High School Comparision Data; this is our schools compared to other charter schools in the State of TN that participate with D2D.
This is initial information, but in October we should have actual information.
Growth Summary Report on Math, Reading, and Language
Strategic Priorities
Priority 1 Restoring positive authentic relationships between network and schools
Priority 2 instructional practices will exemplify the prioritized common core shifts in numeracy and literacy
IPGA Core Actions ELA
Core Action 1 : focus each lesson on a high quality text or multiple texts
Core Action 2: employ questions and tasks both oral and written that are text specific and reflect the standards
Core Action 3: provide all students with opportunities to engage in the work of the lesson
IPGA Core Actions Math
Core Action 1: Ensure the work of the lesson reflects the shifts required
Core Action 2: Employ instructional practices that allow all students to learn the content of the lesson
Core Action 3: provide all students with opportunities to exhibit mathematical practices while engaging with the content of the lesson
Setting a New course
Disrupt the status quo, close the knowledge/opportunity gap, follow research about what is best for kids
Year 1 - implement an aligned curriculum, implement strong coaching protocols and practices, run high-impact school & network plcs moving from procedural to conceptual
ACT - average ACT 18.3 for PCAHS - - we want scores of 24 - college opportunities are significantly higher based on your score. We want a high quality rigorous curriculum and aligning training for our teachers.
If anyone has questions on the Academic data presented, send them to Ashanti and she will determine if we need to discuss at next board meeting; we will discuss the Tn ready data at the next board meeting
IV. Enrollment Report
A.
Enrollment Report
Enrollment will be discussed as a part of the finance report.
V. Finance
A.
Overview
All schools but Nexus have meet their targets for enrollment - we have adjusted staff at Nexus and combined homerooms to align them to budget. We are going to rebrand and rename Nexus to Power Center Southwind. The name change will go through Next Year - we have to petition to the state for the name change.
We received the 2 reports this morning from Afton and will email them to everyone.
New Budget file - want to bring a balanced budget to the board - need 3.5 million at end of school year to get through the summer
We have already received some cash that is not included that we were not expecting; but with this cash, we do have the $500,000 extra we wanted. The budgets are based on attrition numbers for each school.
Capital Improvements is doing well, as most items done during summer
Income - private and philanthropy - based on a 1 million goal; but we are working towards a higher goal.
BEP increased for SY 2017-2018.
Staffing - a total of 13 positions were cut at the CMO and the 2 Nexus schools, as well as we are holding off on back filling 2 positions at CMO until philanthropy starts coming through.
Carrie and her group went over our Benefits and they say they are good, they may still want to look at employer/employee costs
CMO cuts - every team lead came to table - cut $260,000 from budget -- SCS will not be charging a LEA fee for SY 2017-2018 (a new rate of 3% or $35000 per school whichever is lower will start in SY 2018-2019)
Mendenhall Square projection is not included in budget.
Hope to have a detailed income statement and a comparison and variance report by the end of this week.
Cash Flow file --- Weekly projections of money coming in and money going out; it is is a rolling 13 weeks and then it goes to monthly. There will be monthly variance reports and quarterly reviews of projections. We started school with 3.1 million, next year want 3.5 million (cash flow projections are 3.9 million)
Next steps with the Afton group, Working on 5 year projections, and writing our financial policies and procedures
We received the 2 reports this morning from Afton and will email them to everyone.
New Budget file - want to bring a balanced budget to the board - need 3.5 million at end of school year to get through the summer
We have already received some cash that is not included that we were not expecting; but with this cash, we do have the $500,000 extra we wanted. The budgets are based on attrition numbers for each school.
Capital Improvements is doing well, as most items done during summer
Income - private and philanthropy - based on a 1 million goal; but we are working towards a higher goal.
BEP increased for SY 2017-2018.
Staffing - a total of 13 positions were cut at the CMO and the 2 Nexus schools, as well as we are holding off on back filling 2 positions at CMO until philanthropy starts coming through.
Carrie and her group went over our Benefits and they say they are good, they may still want to look at employer/employee costs
CMO cuts - every team lead came to table - cut $260,000 from budget -- SCS will not be charging a LEA fee for SY 2017-2018 (a new rate of 3% or $35000 per school whichever is lower will start in SY 2018-2019)
Mendenhall Square projection is not included in budget.
Hope to have a detailed income statement and a comparison and variance report by the end of this week.
Cash Flow file --- Weekly projections of money coming in and money going out; it is is a rolling 13 weeks and then it goes to monthly. There will be monthly variance reports and quarterly reviews of projections. We started school with 3.1 million, next year want 3.5 million (cash flow projections are 3.9 million)
Next steps with the Afton group, Working on 5 year projections, and writing our financial policies and procedures
B.
b. Finance Reports and Committee Recommendations
C.
Mendenhall Update
We are trying to get a brownfield with the state, state TDEC is reviewing all of the analytical data for the past 5 years to see if they are comfortable with us putting kids in a site that had a dry cleaner spill; attorney is working to determine what we want to ask for; someone is working on determining if there are other spots on the property that would work for PCAES. Kim thinks we will have resolved by end of October.
VI. VI. Voting on Resolutions
A.
a. CSGF Resolutions
C. Leon made a motion to accept both resolutions as stated.
Y. Lewis seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
B.
Final Mendenhall Resolution
The Mendenhall Resolution has already been voted on, but we now have a clean version. We will send around the red-lined version to new board members.
VII. Closing Items
A.
Next Board Meeting Date
- We will send out the red-lined Mendenhall document to everyone.
- Board expectations - sending out agenda items, working on development, how committees should report out
- Finance vote needs to be done by next week - Ashanti will call for a vote on next Thursday.
- Bobbie Turner will report on projections and proficiency numbers for Academics
- Mendenhall updates
- Next meeting October 26
- Route questions for Bobbie on Academic Report to Ashanti Evans-Blackwell and she will route to Bobbi Turner
B.
Adjourn Meeting
A. Evans Blackwell made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Y. Lewis seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 10:11 AM.
Respectfully Submitted,
G. Rucker