back to 05-06 board minutes home page GES Board APPROVED Minutes July 27, 2005 The meeting was opened at 4:40 pm. Members present: Kathryn Nelson-Pederson, Barb Nagle, Patty Nordahl, Suzy Schweig, Nina Simonowicz Members excused absence: Amy Brown, Susan Miller In the absence of Secretary Susan Miller, Patty Nordahl volunteered to take the minutes. Barb read the school’s mission. All gave a “Celebration Sentence”. Suzy moved and Nina seconded to accept the agenda. Additions to the agenda: change date of the Sept. 28th Board meeting; set annual meeting date; priorities for director position; health insurance update. All ayes to accept the agenda as amended. Nina moved and Suzy seconded to approve the minutes of the June 22nd board meeting. All ayes. Treasurer’s Report: Nina moved and Suzy seconded to approve the bills. Minnesota Charter Schools Special Ed. Project will be paid after we are informed of who our Special Ed. Director is. All ayes to approve the bills. Financial Report: Nina moved and Patty seconded to move $23,000 from our $43,000 reserve into the 05-06 Operating Budget to offset the shortfall while still maintaining a fiscally responsible reserve. The board has established that we maintain at least a reserve of 5% of our Operating Budget. $20,000 will remain in reserve. All ayes. We still have a shortfall of $16,135 for the 05-06 budget, and need to continue to promote enrollment. We have applied for a REAP Grant for the 05-06 school year, and it is anticipated that if we get that, we should be able to meet our budget. Nina will meet with CMERDC about outsourcing our financial duties, next week. Educator’s Report: Kathryn reported on the professional development experiences that our educators have had this summer. “Exciting, Wonderful, Energizing” were some words she used to describe the classes they attended. Kathryn showed us a mind-mapping project she did for a Gifted and Talented class she took. Suzy has examples of book-making projects she did. The board would like the educators to exhibit their work for students and families to see – great role-modeling of life-long learning! Nina will email a template for educators to fill in about their professional development, and will write a press release for the newspaper. A photo is needed. Suzy presented the draft calendar which includes dates for conferences, Family Education Nights, testing, board meetings, and other scheduled events for the school year. The Annual Meeting was set for Nov. 9, with a short business meeting beforehand. Some fundraising ideas were discussed, including plans to sell the coffee and syrup we have purchased from Audubon. Tax issues need to be looked into. A Fundraising Meeting was set for August 9 to make final plans. Board members are asked to email Patsy names of anyone we know of who may be interested in participating, and all families will be invited to the meeting. Sponsor Communication: A routine process for communicating with our sponsor will be the focus of a meeting on July 28th at 1 pm. At that time we will respond to the questions Mike Link asked us to answer by July 31. Board Goals: Barb requested that all board members state at least three goals. Some of the suggestions were: minimize goals; revisit the way we hold board meetings and how we discuss things; revise/prioritize the director job description; get more family members involved as committee chairs; begin looking for board members and a replacement for Barb as chair; board meeting structure; discuss our strengths and weaknesses as board members to help us find out what skills we should be looking for in new board members and to clarify where our talents can best be used. Barb will share these ideas with Marcia Cushmore in order to have some clear goals for our next retreat. Barb will email all board members to find out their preferences for a time and date. Transportation: AEOA turned our request to transport our students in August down. Larry Livesay drove the bus to Greg Olson’s to have it serviced. It will be inspected before school begins. Barb will make arrangements for a bus driver: there are many leads. Facility: Jerry Starr and Mark Pederson met with Tim Kennedy about facility changes, and will have all necessary materials ordered and paid for by Sept. 8. Personnel: P.E. John Coyle has been contacted, and we hope to have an answer very soon regarding his availability in August and beyond. The committee will be meeting with a person interested in the director job on July 28th. The committee will give specifics of Ilena Berg’s position as Science and Math coordinator, and the cleaning position to the finance committee. There was discussion about Math Curriculum for the students who will have 9th grade math next year. As is required annually, the board will approve salaries by category next meeting. The committee is still searching for an OT and a Speech Therapist. Health Insurance premiums have gone up about 11% which totals $197 per month for all our employees. There are also some minor changes in benefits. Patty will email all staff with the changes in benefits and their monthly premiums. Kathryn requested a clarification of TRA payments. Employees pay 5%, and the school pays another 5% for TRA. Nina will talk to Karen Blackburn to find out if the check stubs can be revised to include the payment by the school. Director Discussion: Board members were asked to prioritize the role of a director: educational leader; PR/communication; day to day manager. It was decided that Sept. 14th board meeting will be the deadline for hiring someone with our #1 priority: PR and Communication. After that date we will focus on hiring a business manager for this school year. Salary and job description will be adjusted accordingly. The regularly scheduled Sept. 28 board meeting was changed to Wed. Sept 21 at the regular time. Nina moved and Kathryn seconded to adjourn the meeting at 7 pm. Ayes all. Respectfully Submitted, Patty Nordahl, substitute secretary back to 05-06 board minutes home page |