S. Dasu read the Mission Statement.

M. Dixon thanked the board for meeting during February's Special Board Meeting.

S. Liner asked to add a vote on the approval of the school calendar under the Governance discussion.

A. Pieper asked the Board to add a contract vote under the Governance discussion.

There were no comments from the community.

A. Pieper gave the Directors Report

Educational Excellence and Student Information:

1:1 Technology for 8th graders has been rolled out.

Educational Excellence Committee has formed a staff sub-committee to revamp K-1 expectations and parent communication regarding the growth expectations for differentiated curriculum for those grades.

Admissions committee meets tomorrow. There is a seven-member committee this year. Communication goes out next week to applicant families as to whether their children have qualified for the lottery. March 19 is the scheduled date for the lottery. Ms. Pieper will give more details about admission statistics at the next Board meeting.

PTO Booster funds were used to purchase a play house for the front playground.

Teachers and Staff:

Ms. Thomas will attend and present at NCAGT State Conference in Winston-Salem for professional development. There will be seven teachers from Scholars Academy including Ms. Thomas attending the Conference this year.

We are in the process of hiring for the 2020-2021 school year. One position in the lower school and one in middle school Math have been posted.

Expansion and Finance:

There have been sufficient tickets sold for the 20 in 2020 event to break even, budget-wise. There will be a final count on Friday. Student celebration will happen March 11 in the afternoon. There will be fun activities for the children for them to "go back in time" 20 years.

 A. Pieper updated the Board on a maintenance contract that is within budget, therefore no vote is necessary.
We are hoping to switch to a new landscaping company. The Board will vote on the new contract after closed session.

The Board will consider and vote on the proposed school year calendar for 2020-2021. The proposed start date will be August 31 to align with the CMS calendar. There have been some changes to teacher workdays to maintain the required number of days and end on June 11. Holidays will be the same. Five minutes will be added to the school day. Dismissal will be at 3:10pm. Bell schedule is TBD. The August 31 start date was decided upon as a result of a parent survey which showed that 25 families were concerned that they would have difficulty getting their children to school on the first day of school. Per pupil public funding for Scholars Academy is calculated based on student attendance on the first day of school, so the school cannot risk having many absences on the first day.

A. Gozycki asked members of the board if they had questions regarding expectations for the Strategic Plan .

All members of the Board have completed the evaluation. Staff participation is 87%.

The Board will be accepting nominations for new Board members. Applications should be sent to M. Dixon. S. Dasu will arrange for interviews. This process will be completed in May so that the Board can vote in June.

S. Korrapati presented an update on the expansion of the school. Scholars Academy had made a bid on a property but were outbid. The Committee is actively looking for other suitable properties and speaking with lenders to determine borrowing capacity.  The committee has also begun to reach out to commercial brokers as we prepare for the sale of our current building.  It is anticipated that it may take some time to find a buyer and the relocation target date remains Fall of 2021. 

Ms. Pieper reported on the ways that the school has considered raising revenue. Specifically, there are alternative models for growing the student population in order to increase revenue. Careful consideration is being given in order to grow the school gradually and responsibly. Contract discussions will be discussed in closed session. An update will go out to the community in the next newsletter.

A. Farooqi reported on the progress of the ACGC. Current participation is 82% of families have pledged and 83% of pledge funds have been received. Average gift is $1,818. Campaign ambassadors are in the process of reminding the 49 remaining non-pledged families to pledge.

The Board discussed the possibility that Annual Giving donation messaging may have to evolve with our Diversity and Expansion initiatives to accommodate families which may not have the ability to give.

The Development Committee met to identify some proposed programs and partnerships that can support the goals of the Strategic Plan.

S. Schroeck gave an update on the 20 in 2020 event. There are 200 people expected to attend the adults-only evening event on March 7. S. Schroeck and Toni Hemming met with management at the venue to go over event logistics. All preparations have been made.

M. Mittal was not in attendance. He had previously told M. Dixon that there are no finance  updates.  The Board will discuss a mortgage refinance update in closed session.

M. Ramasamy reported that the Foundation committee has had some back and forth with the lawyer regarding necessary information for filing. We are requesting to file as a public foundation rather than a private charity. This is likely to be the last round of reviews before filing.

S. Dasu gave the Diversity Committee Report. The Committee did attend the Charlotte Charter School Fair at Imaginon. They spoke to over 20 families from diverse backgrounds.

The Diversity Committee discussed the idea of doing an outreach to non-students and perhaps doing a Saturday School series as a way to support the goals of the strategic plan.

There were no comments from members of the community.