R. Watson reminded everyone that the meeting is being audio recorded. 
 

M. Scruggs read the mission statement.

No comments in the first round.

Second round of comments:
AJ Farooqi commented on the painting of buildings getting closer to the school grounds, also recommends that Foundation Committee explain purpose in a simple document for parents.

A. Pieper provided Director's Report:

Student Performance

• October is Bullying Month in SEL
• "Canstruction" food drive, children will build structures from canned food - combines engineering and a food drive.
• Last weekend's Open House was lighter than usual, but we've never held one this early.
• High School transition night scheduled for November.

Governance & Financial

• Confucius Institute has promised funding ($10K each year starting this year for Chinese educational needs)
• Title II funding for professional development is available from state, $2109 - just need to apply. The Board was given the opportunity for feedback, no comments. A. Pieper will send in application on 10/23.
• In contact with the state about the application for the changes to the Admissions Policy (adding the low-SES priority as approved by the board in the 2017-2018 school year). Need to resubmit for approval, new contact will work to approve by January.
• Discussed make-up day for weather closure. We have taken four days due to the hurricanes, however we had two built in and the state waived one, so we have one to make up.  A. Pieper advises against taking the planned make up day in February (President's Day) in order to save that for winter weather. We are not allowed to schedule make up days on certain holidays (Veteran's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day). A. Pieper recommends 12/19 as a make-up day.

M. Scruggs made motion to use recommended date of December 19th for our make-up day.
S. Korrapati seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Teachers & Staff

• M. Dawkins presented AIG Certification Plan
  • Total of (16) staff members need to be certified.
    • (12) staff members will take Praxis II, (2) are taking two coursework classes and Praxis II, (2) taking four coursework classes and Praxis II
      • Praxis is (120) questions, encompasses multiple topics regarding gifted students
    • School is running a study group for staff bi-weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, offers support and community to those testing. Program starts 10/23 and runs October - November and January-February.  All study material will be provided by the school. Topics covered will include: gifted development/characteristics, learning environments for the gifted, gifted instruction, ID/assessment of gifted students, as well as professionalism and a practice exam.
  • Total: $3031.77  - This will be lower in future years given the amount of staff involved this year (includes enrichment teachers who previously were not required to become AIG certified). Covers study materials, as well as test and coursework fees.
• A. Pieper presented the Teacher & Staff Observation Plan
  • No major changes from last year. First round of evaluations started this week, go through mid-November. Executive Director (ED) and Associate Director (AD) handle all evaluations. Second round takes place in February. End of year brings summative evaluations, which begin in April.
• A. Pieper shared updated Administrator Responsibility Chart
  • Chart delineates roles and responsibilities of admin team (ED, AD, Dean of Students). Also included is a time allocation by percentage for each role. 

Other

• October Community Conversations (10/31): Discussion will be around SEL and Parent Survey results from last Spring, and the changes that have been made this year based on these results. Safety updates will also be discussed.
• A CMS Board Member toured school last week to see how we operate, which opened lines of communication with CMS.  Focus wound up being more on SEL program as tour included SEL classes in session. A. Pieper recommends any/all board members come in to view these SEL classes, 11-11:25 daily.
• A. Pieper spoke with new management company regarding our monument sign out front. Development company is updating signs, we need to figure out who owns this. Also discussed potential of painting the school (to match updates in the rest of the development) and asked for pricing - this would not happen until next year as we have not budgeted for it this year.

 

M. Mittal presented financial deep dive to further educate the board on our financial process.

• Explained detail around line item under revenue and expenses
• We do go to the Federal Grants line items first before hitting other line items when applicable (in instances where there are two similar line items).

M.. Mittal shared quarterly financial snapshot (9/30/18) with the board.

• Revenue comes mostly from state (55%)
• Expenses mainly salary (73%)
• Balance Sheet Snapshot compares cash/assets/debt/liabilities from EOY 2016-2018.
• Our Fund Balance Ratio target = 8%
• Moving forward, M. Mittal will add investment updates to this snapshot to reflect short term CDs.

M. Mittal provided updates:

• Paid off second mortgage ($206,486) per September board vote
• Invested excess cash in short term CDs, also per September board vote
• Currently speaking with a few banks about refinancing, which would reduce burden on operating budget

M. Mittal shared the Banking and Deposit Policy and Investment Policy for approval.

M. Mittal made a motion to approve the two financial policies.
M. Scruggs seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

Will be finalized and updated by 10/28, will also upload to BOT.

S. Liner presented Facilities Rental Contract Policy

• Any contract that is less than $10K or any renewal contract with limited changes to rental rate or period can be approved by ED.
• Any new contracts or contracts over $10K need to be approved by the Board and ED.
• Our facility is not funded by tax payer money, we do have the ability to turn down requests due to logistics
• Contract form does have stipulations within it on use of building, so this isn't needed within the policy

S. Scott gave volunteer database update:

• November 9th - soft launch
• December 3rd: fully available
• Development is planning a database launch event
  • Plans to work sign-ups into drop off routine and science fair to gain buzz and publicity
  • Content for launch will include a one pager, FAQs on how we will use information
  • Policy Committee is creating a privacy policy for the database, also creating a link for bug fixes/to request more features
  • Planning to link to database via button on school homepage, signage added around school
  • Publicity to start in November
• T. Hemming circulated main structure of database around to various point people (staff, PTO) for feedback.

M. Ramasamy discussed Foundation updates and timeline:

• Phone call held to gain basic information (based on Union Academy).
• First step: Collect basic info to submit to Secretary of State first, as a non profit corporation.
• Next step would be to register with IRS and get EIN. Then apply for 501(C)(3) status with the IRS by submitting Form 1023-EZ.
• Foundation can be used as the funding body and also can be used to protect assets.

R. Watson asked if we have the corporation paperwork and whether we want a distribution upon dissolution clause to revert back to the school. Recommends we hold a foundation committee meeting open to the community, because this group would be mainly running as a separate entity from the board.

M. Scruggs would like to see more on the purpose and the benefits.
M. Ramasamy will provide further detail and adjust the timeline.

S. Liner presented Governance Charter updates/rewrite.

S. Liner presented plans for this year's ED:

• Set 4/29 as the end date for completion of the ED evaluation
• BOT will plot out timeline for us, A. Gozycki to work on this. We will update as needed with timing.

Discussed (3) main goals for ED:

1) Clear, effective communications with school community
2) Smooth leadership transition
3) Develop and maintain a strategy to ensure SA is maintaining a competitive advantage

R. Watson recommended changing up the order of the agenda, listed out of order in BOT with closing session falling after the adjourning of the meeting. Closed session must happen before any vote on closed session discussion.

M. Scruggs made motion to amend order of agenda
M. Mittal seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

**Please note: A. Gozycki reordered the agenda post meeting so that it matched up with the correctly with the flow of the meeting per this vote.**

M. Scruggs made a motion to convene in Closed Session pursuant to "Permitted Purposes" under N.C.G.S. §143-318.11: (e)  To discuss contract negotiations.
M. Dixon seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

M. Mittal made a motion to move back into Open Session.
M. Scruggs seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.


 

No vote was needed based on discussions in Closed Session.