A. Kittleberger noted that the board convened an executive session earlier today from 5:35 to 6:25 to discuss board development and personnel.

There were no comments.

C. Maldonado reported that the Adams County Arts Council has generously donated the tickets to Imani Winds that was attended by 3rd-6th grades, on September 17th. It is noted that the board greatly appreciates their donation as well. Friday, 10-2-15 is the first day of Run Club, Gettysburg Salsa on the Square and PTO movie night! Whew, busy day. Mr. Fonseca is teaching a Spanish class for English speakers on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 and has many parents and staff for his class, which is GREAT! We have so many important volunteers working so diligently for Vida and the students. It is VERY important work and very much appreciated! C. Maldonado is attending a CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics) Dual Language Leadership Conference along with M. Gellman and will be updating the board and stakeholders when they return.

A. Kittleberger has added an new section to future board agendas. This item will allow for the opportunity to discuss new and relevant items in the upcoming months to inform our stakeholders of particular topics relevant to them and the school. There are no updates at this time.

A. Kittleberger notes that the board held its annual retreat on 9-12-15 from 8:30 to 1:30. The speaker was John Tarvin, Claremont Consulting. The purpose of the retreat was to take a TKI assessment and determine what skills the individual board members represent. This analysis enabled to the board to do team building and goal setting. In addition, governance best practices were discussed. A Vida Board spread sheet was attached to the documentation giving the minimum total time monthly and annually that board members are contributing to Vida: Members-monthly-5.12 hrs./annually 61.25 hours. Committee Chairs- an additional monthly 1.00 hr./12.00 hrs. annually and Board Chair an additional 2.00 hrs. monthly/ 24 hrs. annually. Items taken into consideration were Board Meetings, Board Meeting - Travel, Annual Meeting, Committee Meetings, Committee Meetings - Travel, Volunteer Engagement, General Correspondence/Readings, and Reading/Email/Prep.

A. Kittleberger noted that K. Cunniffe, Governance Chair, was unable to attend the board retreat, however A. Kittleberger provided documentation and discussion with K. Cunniffe to bring her up to speed on the issues discussed in the governance best practice discussion.

K. Cunniffe announced that the governance committee suggests the board change its committee structure. In the past, the board included teachers and community members as voting members. Governance best practices state parents or teachers should not be voting members on board committees. K. Cunniffe suggests core committee members should be board members. The new structure will enable the committees to reach out to community members and stakeholders for consultation and input when necessary, maintain efficiency within the meetings, and enable the committies to reach their established goals. In an effort to create communication with stakeholders, all committees will be public and, using Roberts Rules of Order, will hold a regular call to the public as an additional forum for input. K.Cunniffe noted the chairperson can call for an executive session to discuss matters considered private according to the PA Sunshine Law.

One of the responsibilities of the Governance Committee is to have board training on the financial oversight of the school. L. Leonard is making note of this in her Finance Committee goals calendar assuring that the board has an educational aspect annually. L. Leonard is asking board members to watch a Board Financial Oversight webinar, hosted by Board on Track, before the October board meeting. L. Leonard has arranged for a representative from Charter Choices, to be on hand at the October board meeting to answer any questions that we may have.

A. Kittleberger noted that the Academic Committee did not meet in September. A. Kittleberger has provided school wide 2015-16 Curriculum year-at-a-glance spreadsheets; she notes that this is only possible through the aligned curriculum that has been provided by the board and implemented by C. Maldonado.

L. Leonard notes that the business/operations manager is unavailable to attend the board meeting and that L. Leonard is presenting in her absence. The Vida August finances are healthy at this time, although there are some variations with can be explained through accounting procedures and corrections. Because this was the second consecutive board meeting missed by the business/operations manager, board members checked with CMaldonado that this is, in fact, a key function of the position and that the business/operations manager would be in attendance at the next meeting.

L. Leonard states that an additional banking opportunity exists for Vida's employees and parents through Members First Credit Union. The Finance Committee has reviewed the information and recommends the establishment of the opportunity.

L. Leonard reported that the September enrollment was a total of 258 children and were broken down as follows: Bermudian Springs SD-18, Carlisle Area SD-3, Conewago Valley SD-45, Fairfield Area SD-3, Gettysburg Area SD-97, Hanover Public SD-26, Littlestown Area SD-18, Mechanicsburg Area SD-2, South Western SD-9, Spring Grove Area SD-7, Upper Adams SD-30.

C. Maldonado reported that the Pearson math curriculum purchases exceeded the threshold amount of $5,000 and requests the board to approve additional materials not to exceed $6,500.00. L. Leonard noted that the Finance Committee approved the purchase.

L Leonard notes that the English language curriculum exceeded the board approved amount of $27,000 by about $2,500.00. This excess is due to inaccurate price quotes in the original proposal.

C. Maldonado reports that Vida has 5 Gettysburg College students volunteering, 2 of whom are bilingual. She is very pleased with the great relationship that Vida has with Gettysburg College.

C. Maldonado is requesting the board approve a full-time position description for a part-time receptionist/part-time teaching assistant. (The board approved this position temporarily in August.)

C. Maldonado advised the board that the special education teacher, Jerrod Smith, has resigned, effective 10-6-15. The board wishes him well and thanks him for his service to Vida.

C. Maldonado reports that the Health and Wellness Committee will be meeting on Fridays at 3:30 in Nov. Jan, March & May. October's meeting will be asynchronous via e-mail on 10/16. The YWCA Encore 5K will be 10-10. On 11-8 there will be Veteran's X-Country relay. There was a bicycle parade at the Heritage Festival. The possibility of a bike club and soccer club were discussed. The running club will be operating for 5 weeks in Oct. & Nov. New prospective endeavors include a T-shirt sale, and discussions regarding bike helmets.

In an 8-13 meeting of the PTO, they have decided to continue the committee framework used last year: Art/Music Committee-Traci Kelly, Math/Science Committee-Alecia Livingston Lair, Reading/School Spirit Committee-Kim Hissong. C. Maldonado has requested volunteers on Wed. for distribution of papers, completed by 2:00. Treasurer was unavailable for report. PTO provided lunch for teachers on 8/13 for a cost of $184.05. A back to school flyer was planned for 8/26 and will be translated. Upcoming events: Square One Art and Vida T-shirts for fundraisers. Extra shirts were purchased for sale. Movie night to be 10/2. The Read-a-Thon begins on 11/2, which will go along with Ms. Gellman's school wide reading challenge. PTO purchased T-shirts for staff as appreciation and will provide a potluck soup and salad for teachers on 11/5, a half-day for students and the start of parent/teacher conferences. There will be a movie night in Dec. and will include a canned food drive.

A skating party in Jan. is being planned. Shanda will keep a notebook in the office with PTO business items for review by interested parties. PTO will create list of volunteer opportunities for parents and will be available at first PTO meeting. Two opportunities already exist: copying and mailing in office on Wed. mornings & parents to attend board meeting and report back to PTO/parents in order to increase participation and awareness about school happenings. Upcoming PTO meetings will be 10/13 (Vida), 11/10 (Vida) and 12/8 (Hanover) at 6:30. PTO will get a Spanish translator for meetings.