Vida Charter School

Minutes

Board Meeting

Date and Time

Monday August 22, 2016 at 6:30 PM

Location

Eisenhower Building

Trustees Present

A. Kittelberger, C. Bowen, D. Marritz, E. Diaz, J. Arnold, J. Brandauer, L. Leonard, M. Rosenberger, S. White

Trustees Absent

None

Ex Officio Members Present

M. Davis

Non Voting Members Present

M. Davis

Guests Present

Elizabeth Kellett, Kathy Hewitt, N. McGowan

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

A. Kittelberger called a meeting of the board of trustees of Vida Charter School to order on Monday Aug 22, 2016 at 6:32 PM.

C.

Adjustments to Meeting Agenda

After discussion and vote, the board agreed to adjust the agenda to reflect changes to items listed under the Governance Committee and the Finance Committee.

D.

Approve minutes

E. Diaz made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 06-22-16 Board Meeting on 06-22-16.
J. Brandauer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
M. Rosenberger noted that she was not present at 6-22-16 meeting. Adjustment will be made.
S. White noted that there were some issues to be resolved with minutes to 6-22-16 meeting and will be adjusted. 
E. Diaz made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 6-22-16 pending changes noted above.

E.

Approve Minutes

E. Diaz made a motion to approve minutes from the Board Meeting on 07-28-16. Board Meeting on 07-28-16.
J. Brandauer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

F.

Public comment

There were no comments.

G.

Director's report

Instructional
    Subject teams have been formed. Teachers are planning a preventive strategy to rise the academic level of the school.  We had a goal of increasing it by 20%.The teachers will utilize some of the schedule meetings for planning and accounting for instructional strategies. These strategies will be measured by benchmarks during the instructional quarters.
The LA and the Spanish teams already met and have submitted their initial plan.
  1. The teachers were trained on the Math in focus. There is also a Math team that will be evaluating the implementation of the new curriculum with administration monitoring.
  2. We have received the results of the PSSA's. There are mixed with some gains and some falls.
  3. We have requested a contract from the LIU and have not received it regarding the Special Education programming. We have to hold two meetings and discuss the duties of our assigned Special Teacher.
Building
    IT. We will be ordering 6 white boards for six classrooms. Re-secure the mounts and setup the 3rd  grade chromebooks.  We have 21 that are   boxed.IT will be here on Tuesday and then we will be on an on-call basis service.
  1. We have started the janitorial services.  We were able to clean the school and get  it ready for the Meet and Greet parent session last week and we are ready for tomorrow first day of school.
  2. Gettysburg SD will discontinue the provision of toilet paper and paper towels, and  other soap.
Finance
Charter choices will share their on-line Quick books so that we may have a better picture of our on-going finances.
 
Needed personnel 
We would like to have at least one person allocated part-time for the school for more time than what we are provided for now by the LIU .
 

II. Finance

A.

Approve June & July Financials

L. Leonard noted that the final deficit for the 2015-16 school year was approx. $38,000.00. It is noted that student enrollment for 2016-17 school year is lower than expected. Budget revisions will be in committee level and will look to come to the board in the September or October meeting.
C. Bowen made a motion to accept the financials for June, 2016.
J. Arnold seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
L. Leonard made a motion to accept the financials for July 2016.
J. Brandauer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Update on Personnel

The Finance Committee noted its review of a confidential personnel item. The board should expect to take action on this item in September.

III. Governance

A.

Re-Organization of Officer for 2016-17 School Year

J. Brandauer presented a slate of officers for the 2016-17 School Year: L. Leonard, President; C. Bowen, Vice President; J. Brandauer, Treasurer; S. White, Secretary. There were no nominations from the floor. Nominations closed.
J. Brandauer made a motion to accept the slate of officers for the 2016-17 School Year: L. Leonard, President; C. Bown, Vice President; J. Brandauer, Treasurer; S. White, Secretary.
D. Marritz seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
L. Leonard and S. White thanked Amanda Kittelberger for her service as President for 2 years. 

B.

2016-17 School Year Committee Assignments

L. Leonard presented a slate of Committee Chairs for the 2016-17 School: J, Brandauer, Finance Committee; A, Kittelberger, Academic Excellence; J. Arnold, Governance.
L. Leonard made a motion to accept a slate of Committee Chairs for the 2016-17 School: J, Brandauer, Finance Committee; A, Kittelberger, Academic Excellence; J. Arnold, Governance.
D. Marritz seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
The board members will be assigned to committees in September.
C. Bowen made a motion to accept J. Brandauer as the Chair for the Finance Committee for the 2016-16 School Year and to serve as Treasurer.
D. Marritz seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C. Bowen made a motion to accept J. Arnold as the Chair of Governance for the 2016-17 School Year.
J. Brandauer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
J. Arnold made a motion to accept A. Kittelberger as the Chair of Academic Excellence Committee for the 2016-17 School Year.
C. Bowen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
A. Kittelberger made a motion to appoint Cindy Bowen to the Executive Officer of Vice Presidet for the 2016-17 School Year.
D. Marritz seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
A. Kittelberger made a motion to appoint Susan White to the Executive Office of Secretary for the 2016-17 School Year.
J. Brandauer seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

IV. Other Business

A.

New Hires contracts

J. Brandauer made a motion to approve Jessica Malone for the position of Guidance Counselor for the 2016-17 school year effective August 12, 2016.
C. Bowen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
J. Arnold made a motion to approve the hiring of Belinda Ray for the position of Response to Intervention Teacher for the 2016-17 school year effective August 15, 2016.
L. Leonard seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C. Bowen made a motion to approve the hiring of Paulino Contreras for the position of Music and Movement teacher for the 2016-17 school year effective August 22, 2016.
L. Leonard seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

B.

Explanation of the RTI provisions

The boarded noted the Response to Intervention job description change (as explained by M. Davis).  The board will allow the current document to be used as a working document until a revision can be made to reflect standard Vida's format.  Formal acceptance will follow, likely in September.

C.

Special Ed Contract for 2016-2017

M. Davis noted that the LIU will be responsible for the special education/gifted education components at Vida Charter School in its entirety and Vida will be paying monthly on projected fees later adjusted for actual costs.  The Finance Committee recommends approval of the contract and the payment strategy to save costs overall and to provide better accountability for spending (in relation to billing cycles of previous years).
L. Leonard made a motion to approve the contract with LIU for the Special Education/Gifted Education Contract for the 2016-17 School year.
C. Bowen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

J. Brandauer noted that he has spoken with several parents and they are thrilled with the calls from the teachers to the parents this year. A Meet and Greet held between parents/students and Vida staff which was a great success. D. Marritz noted that he too the the Meet & Greet was magical and that it is lovely to see appropriate space and equipment for the upcoming school year. 
The next board meeting will be September 26, 2016.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:49 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
S. White
D. Marritz made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
J. Arnold seconded the motion.
The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.