City Garden Montessori School
Minutes
Board of Directors Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday August 7, 2024 at 6:00 PM
This is an in-person meeting at 4209 Folsom Ave, St . Louis, MO 63110.
We will be live streaming the meeting via Zoom webinar at this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88115198576?pwd=RnI0cWNYaDZsdkdES3o2VE9hQnNMdz09
The meeting will also be recorded and posted on the City Garden website (citygardenschool.org/board)
Directors Present
D. Smith, J. Fouse, L. Vowell, S. Deuanephenh, S. Haigler, S. Shelton-Dodge (remote)
Directors Absent
J. Dixon, M. Howard
Guests Present
C. Huck, C. Isom, D. Blank, D. Fox (remote), M. Flohr (remote), M. Marshall
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance and Guests
C.
Recess General Meeting to Convene Closed Session
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| J. Dixon |
Absent
|
| S. Shelton-Dodge |
Aye
|
| L. Vowell |
Aye
|
| D. Smith |
Aye
|
| S. Deuanephenh |
Aye
|
| M. Howard |
Absent
|
| J. Fouse |
Aye
|
| S. Haigler |
Aye
|
D.
Resume the General Meeting
E.
Mission Statement
F.
Introductions and Public Comment
There was no public comment.
G.
Welcome New Board Members and Introduce Board Officers for 2024-25
New member, Laura Vowell, was welcomed to the Board of Directors for a 3 year term beginning on July 1, 2024.
The 2024-25 Officers of the Board of Directors are:
- Sysco Deuanephenh, Chair
- Mia Howard, Vice-Chair
- Joelle Fouse, Treasurer
- Jesse Dixon, Secretary
- Donna Howard, Immediate Past-Chair
II. Action Items
A.
Approve Minutes from June 2024 Board Meeting
B.
Approve May 2024 Financials
C.
Vote on New Board Member, Ben Huebner
The Board Recruitment committee unanimously recommended approval of this candidate.
D.
Approve 2024-25 Organizational Goals and Annual Plan
- These goals were revised after receiving the board's input
- The board requested quarterly updates be included as an agenda item at board meetings as a summary report
- The board would like to hear from the school principals regularly as well
There was great interest in the Academic Goals
- The board asked to see longitudinal data, to better understand how attendance in particular, affects academics.
- CG will be offering tutoring 4 days a week this year, instead of 2 days as last year. This tutoring will start sooner in the school year, two weeks after the start of school.
- There are plans to meet and partner with parents as well to try to eliminate the obstacles of poor daily attendance and to underscore the importance of additional instruction with tutoring .
III. Information Items
A.
New and Revised Policies for 2024-25
- The board was asked to review the policies presented and forward any questions to the Governance Committee
- The By-laws of the organization are under review and will be cross-checked by our legal counsel before being submitted to the board for approval this year
B.
CEO Report
Christie turned her time over to Mike Flohr, who provided an update on the CGM Institute.
- MACTE was onsite observing the program, and deemed it a model program for infusing ABAR/ DEI with the Montessori curriculum
- We expect to be fully accredited by 2025
- There was great collaboration with our internal (CG staff - returning and new) adult learners
- We received a stellar response to this year's change in our model
C.
Board Chair Report
Dr. Tenille Rose, who was approved for board membership at the June meeting, had a conflict with meeting dates and has resigned. We will try to keep her engaged by serving on a committee.
The Community Engagement subcommittee (Donna Smith, Sysco Deuanephenh, Mia Howard, Sherita Haigler, Dr. Alexandra Boyd) met and began a draft of the scope of work to give clarity to and assign a subcommittee member to each of the following areas of focus:
- Strategic Plan
- Budget Plan and Transparency - championed by the Finance Committee
- Organizational Structure
- Academic Excellence
The subcommittee will provide the board with quarterly updates.
General meeting was reconvened at 6:40 PM.