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GES Board
APPROVED Minutes
November 9, 2005
The meeting was opened at 4:00 pm.
Members present: Patty Nordahl, Suzy Schweig, Nina Simonowicz, Susan Miller, Dave Ingebrigtsen, Scott Pollock
Others present: Peter James, Kathryn Nelson-Peterson
Suzy read the school’s mission.
All gave a “Celebration Sentence”.
Framework of the Board Meeting:
Nina reviewed parliamentary procedure. All new board members will receive the booklet: Fundamentals of School Board Membership. From now on Nina will e-mail tentative board agendas out; if a board member would like something added to the agenda, forward it to Nina. Board members are to make 12 copies of everything that is to be passed out.
Patty suggested we should publish our minutes on boreal.
Susan moved and Patty seconded to accept the agenda. Additions to the agenda: policy should come after enrollment. All ayes to accept the agenda as amended.
Patty moved and Amy seconded to approve the minutes of the October 12 board meeting. All ayes.
Director’s Report:
Peter reported on the new face of the morning meeting (singing from 8:30-8:40) and that now the children are staying in the Great Room to provide teachers with time to prepare for the day. The music/singing portion of the day facilitates prompt attendance taking and is community building.
Facility: Peter thanked Terry Nagle for his help with the attic area and said we are continuing to organize our space in the great room space and the upstairs portion of the school. Upstairs separate storage spaces have been created for each teacher, as well as creation of community space for books and curriculum.
Peter has also been trying to organize space in general, in the office, in the classrooms, etc.
New special education space has been constructed, it is a wonderful space. It has already been used often as a much needed quiet space.
Relocating special education office and classroom will happen after Thanksgiving.
Peter reported that we have been formalizing our visitor/volunteer procedures. We now issue yellow name tags to any visitor/volunteers to the school. Volunteers/visitors that have had a background check are given a white name tag. Therefore, at a glance, it is easy to tell who is allowed to work with students or be alone in a room with students.
Peter is also working on compliance issues.
The annual financial audit was completed last week, preliminary results are that last year GES had a surplus of $6,125.00
MAPs testing will be next week and the week after for make-up. Students will be tested each spring, but new students need a baseline so they are also tested in the Fall.
Technology: Josh will be preparing PC’s for the MAPs testing. After that is finished he needs to inventory our equipment and help us make a tech plan that works for us. MN Dept of Ed said that we were ineligible for the Microsoft money because we did not have a tech plan filed. We should do an 18 month plan and can file our plan with the state sometime in the next few weeks.
Peter has found someone that can do snowplowing of our lot for $60.00 per occurrence and bill us monthly. Patty moved and Dave seconded to approve hiring a contractor to plow snow for GES this winter. Plowing price not to exceed $60.00 per snowfall or $900.00 per season. Ayes all.
Glen Hellner will let us store busses on his property so we can get the busses out of our lot for the winter. Insurance can be added on for one day in order to move the busses.
Treasurer’s Report:
Susan moved and Patty seconded to approve the bills as presented. Following discussion and explanation of the bills. Peter suggested that dates of bills be added.
All ayes to approve the bills.
Educator’s Report:
Kathryn passed around the teacher’s schedules for new board members to view.
Kathryn commented that the teachers and staff are now more relaxed since Peter came on board.
Some of the things that have been happening lately: the fiber art guild came in and worked with students on weaving. The volunteers said they would be willing to come back to do another small project. The students enjoyed learning weaving techniques and making small fiber coasters.
Next week we are having a bee-keeper come in to talk about the craft.
One of the mentors has started working with two students from the Otter classroom.
Soon all the children will begin learning chess. A grant was used to purchase chess sets for the school.
Lunch/recess time and duty has changed to give the teachers time to meet and problem-solve.
Writing workshop is still an all school emphasis, focusing more on process than on product. The teachers use/ teach the 6 traits of effective writing.. Peer conferencing has begun.
The all school read is Birch Bark House, soon all three classrooms will have read this book.
“School News” on WTIP is now being done by Kathryn’s class. The children are enthusiastic about gathering information and reading the news on the air. WTIP will cut a cd at the end of each month so we will have a digital recording and something for the children’s portfolios.
Committee Reports:
Development:
Suzy reported that she is helping put together a process/ checklist for board members. She mentioned a number of documents that new members should read such as annual reports, board membership booklets, etc.
Enrollment/Community relations:
Patty reported that pre-school screening is available for every 3 year old. All three year old are
invited to attend this screening at ISD 166 put on by early education. Patty suggested we should have a brochure available at these screenings. Screenings occurs intermittently, and all schools should have their brochures available; GES, Birch Grove, ISD 166, and Grand Portage.
Policy:
Patty described the calling tree to new board members. It is a format for school closings, etc. Patty will also revise the board of directors calling tree.
Karina Roth has agreed to be on development committee as well as Shelly Schroeder and Shawn Maravigli.
Patty is sending out thank you letters to volunteers. If there is not a master contact list, Patty will start one. Staff needs to make a list of those that need to be thanked and forward that to Patty. Next year we will take out an advertisement thanking and listing our volunteers.
Insurance information is still needed from staff by Patty, as she is investigating the health savings accounts. Teacher and staff information is needed just to get a health care savings account quote.
Patty moved that GES provide the director (Peter James) with healthcare coverage via his personal health savings account under regular parameters of GES coverage not to exceed $400.00 a month or reimburse his direct health care provider up to a cost not to exceed the cost of providing coverage under the GES plan. Dave seconded. Ayes all.
Finance Report:
Through parent donations and Nina’s silent auction fundraiser ($1,000.00), there is a surplus after paying for the last Audubon trip. Nina suggested that these funds might be used for the next Audubon trip. Suzy moved and Patty seconded to use parent’s donations and the fundraiser money and allocate it to future Audubon trips. Ayes all
High School:
Survey: 9 people responded to the high school survey that was passed out.
Nina discussed the outcomes and then turned the discussion over to Peter.
Peter reported that Mike Link is very concerned about us looking at high school for a variety of reasons, mainly that we have other things to be working on before we start looking at this option. Mike’s fear is that we would spread ourselves too thin in trying to add high school. However, he does have ideas of how to do this successfully in the future.
Strategy/Vision:
After much discussion Nina asked the board to comment individually on the parameters for the three year strategic plan, specifically if we should even be investigating options for adding high school in the future.
Board consensus was that the strategic plan should start investigating project based high school as an option for the future.
Board Goals:
Board meeting dates in 2006 may move to 1x per month with the additions of some board retreats. Wednesdays is the day we have been meeting so we will continue to meet on Wednesdays.
The next board meeting will be Dec 7, 2005
In 2006 we will meet the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 4:00
Board retreat scheduled in January 18 from noon – 4
Academic and financial goals will need to be discussed in the future.
Meeting feedback: Dave asked when we make the calendar for the next school year.
Dec 1st parent education night topic will be next year’s school calendar.
Adjournment:
Patty moved and Scott seconded to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 Ayes all.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Miller, board secretary
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