BELIEVE STL Academy
Minutes
February Board Meeting
Date and Time
Tuesday February 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Directors Present
D. Thomas (remote), L. Douglas (remote), L. Voellinger (remote), M. Johnson (remote), R. Whitley (remote), S. Harmon (remote), S. Williams (remote), T. Wells (remote)
Directors Absent
J. Boone, K. Martin-Johnson, M. Hantak, P. Woods
Guests Present
H. Harshman
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
D. Thomas called a meeting of the board of directors of BELIEVE STL Academy to order on Tuesday Feb 25, 2025 at 5:05 PM.
II. Approval of Board Meeting Minutes - January
A.
Approve January Board Meeting Minutes
S. Harmon made a motion to approve the minutes from January January 2024 Board Meeting on 01-28-25.
M. Johnson seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
III. Principal Report (Academic, Culture, Data, etc)
A.
Principal's Report
- T. Pendleton shared updates on enrollment, attendance, academics, events, and programs/partnerships.
- R. Whitley requested % of 9th grade students planning to return in 10th grade year.
IV. BELIEVE Middle College
A.
Vote: Adding Building for BELIEVE Middle College to the Charter
- T. Simmons shared the overview of the BELIEVE Middle College programming vision including:
- Mission & vision
- Core programming components
- Academic structure
- Measures of success
- T. Vonderheit added that since its such a small number of students, it will co-exist with STL Academy, requiring no additional overhead or facilities costs.
S. Harmon made a motion to Approve submission of the application for BELIEVE Middle College.
D. Thomas seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
V. Committee Updates
A.
Finance Committee
- T. Vonderheit shared finance - board overview documentation re: budget v. actuals
- K. Neal added context around a potential grant with Bloomberg to diversify funds and obtain additional funding to drive program impact
- R. Whitley asked if there is a direct impact on BELIEVE with the updates on federal educational funding
- K. Neal and T. Vonderheit shared the organizations plan to understand impacts down the road and are working with national experts on budgeting and forecasting
- K. Neal also added that we are following the national guidelines/mandates around DEI.
B.
Academic Committee
No academic committee upates for February
C.
Development Committee
No development committee updates for February
D.
Governance Committee
No governance committee updates for February
VI. Goal 4 w/ MCPSC
A.
Vote: Goal 4 Amendment
- J. Manning provided context around the contract goals with our authorizer. She shared that the one goal under review is Contract Goal 4. The request for vote is to amend to remove gradespeciic langage and change targets to School Year targets vs. student cohort targets. This has been due to conversations with the commission and prioritizing a thoughtful assessment plan and to plan for students to take the eoc when students are fully prepared for success on that eoc.
S. Harmon made a motion to Approve the amendment proposal to Goal 4.
L. Douglas seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
VII. Closing Items
A.
Upcoming Deadlines
B.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 5:43 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
H. Harshman
Documents used during the meeting
- 2025_01_28_board_meeting_minutes (1).pdf
- February_2025-_BELIEVE_Academy_Board_Report.pdf
- BELIEVE_Middle_College_Overview_Deck__4_.pdf
- TanesiaResume2025__1_.pdf
- BELIEVE_Middle_College_Staffing_Plan.pdf
- BELIEVE_Middle_College_Statement_of_Need.pdf
- BELIEVE_Middle_College_Curriculum_Plan.pdf
- Student_Recruitment_Plan_for_BELIEVE_Middle_College__1_ (1).pdf
- BELIEVE_Middle_College_budget_100_students_20250221.xlsx
- FY25_BSTL_Amendment_clarified_goal_language.docx