March 2011 Minutes

 

Board Meeting Minutes

Monday March 21, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Location: PCCS Stage Meeting Room

 

 

	2010				2011
	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June
Jeanné Avery	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Tricia Ferrett	✔	✔		✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Bonnie Jean Flom	✔	✔	✔		✔	cancelled	✔
Cynthia Gilbertson	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Paul Hager	✔		✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Caroline Jones	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
David Lefkowitz	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Laura Medwetz		✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Dean Paxton	✔	✔		✔	✔	cancelled	✔
Michael Viola	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	cancelled	✔

 

Also in attendance: Marianne Moser, Community Chair

 

Public Comment

None

December Minutes

Corrected December minutes were approved.

January Minutes

January minutes were approved with corrections.

Finance Committee / Treasurer's Report

Keith was not able to attend the meeting, but he provided a financial report, which Paul presented.  A copy of the report is attached.

• Keith and Paul plan to meet with auditors in April regarding the timing of teachers’ pay (it is currently paid before work has been performed).  After talking the issue over with Keith, the teachers have opted to correct the problem with the first September 2011 paycheck. 
• Keith requested Board approval to use the Ed Jobs Fund (money from the stimulus bill) to offset specialists' salaries.  The Board approved a resolution to use the Ed Jobs Fund to offset specialists' salaries and provide some funding for the Catalyst Fund. Votes on the resolution:

 

	Vote
Jeanné Avery	In favor
Tricia Ferrett	In favor
Bonnie Jean Flom	In favor
Cynthia Gilbertson	In favor
Paul Hager	In favor
David Lefkowitz	In favor
Laura Medwetz	In favor
Dean Paxton	In favor
Michael Viola	In favor

 

Executive Committee

Nothing to report since the last meeting.

Director's Report 

• Contract renewal report finished in January.  Site Visit occurred Feb.  23 & 24. Carolyn Joyce hosted the Site Visit.  It was a busy two days.
• About 10 non-Board members attended the Director's Roundtable on the topic of qualities to look for in a new Executive Director.
• Caroline attended the March 14th NSD Board Meeting. Rob Hardy presented the evaluation report and highly recommended that the District renew PCCS’s contract.  In response to a question, Dr. Richardson said that the District is planning more oversight (e.g., yearly visits, reviewing budgets).
• The new contract is a five-year contract.
• Caroline is currently trying to find a date when staff, faculty, and Board can have dinner together to celebrate the successful completion of the self-evaluation.
• The fifth graders had successful week at Wolf Ridge in February.
• March 7th was the lottery; many tours followed.
• Applications were down this year from last year.  Thirty students have signed up for kindergarten.  Only twelve students are signed up for full-day kindergarten, which is about half of the number we had enrolled this year.  This will have a significant impact on the budget.
• We are having some difficulty getting some families to pay the full-time kindergarten tuition on time.  Some accounts have become significantly behind.  If we stopped running a full-day program we would avoid the problem of billing and the staffing issue in the afternoon.  
• Music camp and summer school are happening.
• Caroline attended a meeting with representative John Kline at Paideia.  He was looking for ideas about how the legislature could support charter schools.  They toured Paideia. Caroline is trying to set up a visit for Kline to PCCS in April. 
• Keith came to a faculty meeting and explained how to read the monthly reports he prepares.
• Keith and Paul met with the teachers to discuss the timing of payroll.
• Cindy Laverato did some training for faculty and staff about charter schools.
• Hired Mark Ekeren as a handyman on an as-needed basis.  He has been getting things done around the school, such as putting new shelves in the Stage Meeting Room.
• Latest on the ice dam:  ServiceMaster put some sensors in the wall to test for moisture.  We do not have a problem now, but we have to add more insulation in the roof to avoid the ice dam and probably re-do the wall and ceiling in the Doves to repair the damage done this winter.
• There has been a mysterious smell in Susan's room.  After some investigation, Caroline believes that the problem is the way the sink was plumbed when the expansion was built.  Will have Keith Pumper come out and fix it.  It should have been done differently in the first place, so she does not expect PCC Inc. to be charged for it.
• Lunch program: It has been difficult to get volunteers to come work lunch.  One reason for the problem is that the job takes longer than it did before the expansion.  Caroline says that the school needs to start looking into ways to address the problem.  The Board discussed possibilities, including ceasing the hot lunch program, increasing the price to cover the cost of staff help, offering only cold lunch, and looking beyond the school community for volunteers.

Search Committee Report

• After reviewing all of the applications, the Search Committee interviewed Simon Tyler on Saturday, March 18th.
• After the interview, the Committee selected Simon as the sole finalist in the Director search process.
• A process has been planned that will include opportunities for teachers and staff and the parent community to meet with Simon.  Members of the Committee will attend these events and gather feedback from other attendees.  
• Out of respect for ARTech, the Committee rescheduled the process so that it can be completed more quickly than originally planned.  If all goes according to plan, the Committee expects to call a special meeting of the Board on April 11th for a final vote. 

Policy Committee Report

• Fund balance policy was discussed and approved.
• The Board discussed changing the Parenting Leave Policy to include staff who have taught a complete school year -- rather than 12 months -- because this is more consistent with the school's calendar.  Policy Committee will prepare a draft of a revised policy.

Development Committee Report

• The Auction is on the 25th.  Parent giving has been very low this year, so there is more pressure on the Auction than usual.  
• Paul suggested that the committee look into the fundraising technique used by St. Dominic's.  It is a form of lottery.
• Currently generating new ideas about fundraising so that Annual Fund giving will continue through the end of the year. 

Education Resource Committee Report

Looking for a date to have an all-school evening art show.

Outreach Committee

Trish, Caroline, Michelle, and Bonnie Jean attended a meeting about the website redesign.  The meeting was chaired by Josie Rawson.  They concluded that the website redesign is in good hands. 

Nominations Committee

• Nominations Committee will have a slate ready at next month’s meeting.  A notice will go out to the community asking whether they want to be considered.  The slate will be based on the response to the notice.  
• This year our April meeting is happening on April 18th, which is after the 15th.  Caroline recommends that the By-laws be amended to say that the slate will be presented "by the April Board meeting," instead of by April 15th.

Other Business

To improve our compliance with the Open Meeting Law requirements, votes on items passed by consensus will be recorded as a vote in favor by any member not blocking consensus.   

Caroline will ask Colleen to make badges for Board members to wear at the event with Simon on Thursday night.

Adjourned: 9:25 p.m.

Minutes approved: April 18, 2011