Great Expectations School Board Meeting
November 30, 2004

Approved Minutes

In Attendance:  Suzy Schweig, Patty Nordahl, Kathryn Nelson-Pedersen, Susan Miller,  Alan Stone, Barbara Nagle and Nina Simonowicz

Others Present: Tom Resek and Terry Nagle

4:00 p.m.  Call to Order

Reading of the Mission:  Suzy Schweig

Approval of Agenda:  Alan Stone moved to approve the agenda. Nina Simonowicz seconded. Ayes all.

Approval of Minutes

Suzy moved to approve the minutes from the November 10, 2004 meeting. Patty Nordahl  seconded. Ayes all.

Payment of bills

Nina moved to approve the payment of bills submitted to the board for review.  Suzy seconded.  Ayes all.  Nina also reported on the current status of the budget and noted that we expect to hear about approval of our second federal grant in mid-December.

Educator’s Report

Katheryn asked about ordering materials for the next learning block.  Barbara Nagle and Nina will sit down with the teachers next week to review the curriculum budget as detailed in the second federal grant.

The annual trip to Audubon is scheduled for Feb. 14 – 16, 2005.  This is an entire school event and directors discussed various transportation options and volunteer needs.

Suzy said the 3 – 5th graders will present their living history characters on December 15 – parents will be invited.

Progress reports will be sent home December 13 and parent conferences will be scheduled for that week.

New Business

Following a discussion regarding a visit by a Columbian school, the board agreed the visit could be very educational, but there was not an adequate amount of time to prepare for a visit in January.  The board agreed to inquire about a visit during the next school year.

Tom Resek discussed recess time and the need/value of doing more to help students play creatively and remain safe while at the same time making effective use of the volunteers who help supervise the recess period.

Announcements/Updates

December board meeting dates are December 8 and December 20.  Nina suggested the board consider one board meeting each month focus on business issues and the other focus on longer-term strategic planning. The Dec. 8 meeting will be the planning meeting, the 20th, the business meeting.  The December 8th meeting will include priority setting on key issues facing the school.

There will be no school on Monday, December 6.

A hot lunch is planned for Tuesday, December 14.

Two couples have agreed to help plan a kindergarten open house for sometime after the first of the year.

The board also discussed the need for an enrollment committee.

Adjourn

Suzy moved to adjourn. Alan seconded.  Meeting adjourned at  5:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,